
Glass 

Book_- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

A STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY 

IN THE 

AMERICAN INTERIOR 



^n^^^ 



THE OPENING OF 
THE MISSISSIPPI 

A STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY 

IN THK 

AMERICAN INTERIOR 

BY 

FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG 

INSTRUCTOR IN HISTORY IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1904 

All rights reserved 



&3^ 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Twa Cvples Reoeived 

MAR 2 1904 

■ Copyright Bntry 

CLASS 0- xXc. No. 

S' ^ S 01 
COPY B / 



Copyright, 1904, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up, electrotyped, and published February, 1904. 



NortoooD JprtBB 

J. S. Cuihing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mai8., U.S.A. 



€o i«2 mat 



PREFACE 

This book is intended primarily to be a history of the 
discovery, exploration, and contested rights of navigation 
of the Mississippi River prior to the final securing of 
American supremacy by the closing events of the War 
of 1812. As such, however, it inevitably appears here 
and there to have been broadened into an attemjjted 
history of the entire Mississippi Valley. The author dis- 
claims any purpose to deal with so large a subject, except 
in so far as has seemed necessary in order to give his 
more restricted narrative its true setting. 

In writing the earlier history of the Mississippi an 
effort has been made to place due emphasis on two most 
important aspects of it — the diplomatic and what may 
perhaps be called the physiographic. Not until after the 
second American war for independence did the ownership 
and control of the Mississippi cease to be the subject of 
almost perennial diplomatic negotiation. The purchase 
of Louisiana, whose centenary is about being celebrated, 
was but an incident — a most important one, to be sure 
— of that prolonged negotiation. Four nations — Spain, 
France, England, and the United States — were from 
time to time involved in it, and no account of the devel- 
opment of the great Middle West is complete without a 
careful survey of its devious courses. 



viii PREFACE 

The close relation coming more and more to be recog- 
nized as existing between the geography of a country and 
the history of its inhabitants impels a consideration of 
the Mississippi as the great trade and travel artery of the 
American interior. Together with its tributaries, it fur- 
nished the most inviting pathway for the early explorer, 
the missionary, the trader, and the settler. Tt was, of 
course, because of its extreme economic importance that 
the river was so keenly contended for by rival nationali- 
ties and influenced so greatly the transforming of the 
inland wilderness into one of the choicest of dwelling- 
places for mankind. 

Among the more recent writers whom I have consulted 
to advantage in the study of my subject, those to whom 
I am chiefly indebted are carefully indicated in foot-notes 
throughout the book. It is a pleasant duty, however, to 
make special mention of Mr. Henry Adams's monumental 
History of the Uiiited States during the Administrations of 
Jefferson and Madison^ which has been invaluable, not 
merely for the scholarly and original ideas which it con- 
tains, but for numerous references opening the way to 
material otherwise in danger of being overlooked. It is 
truly said that history can never be written in its final 
form, but Mr. Adams's volumes surely fall as little short 
of finality as is possible for a work of their kind. The 
writer has been stimulated by the spirit of this great 
work as much as he has been aided by information drawn 
from it. Other secondary authorities which should not 
be passed without mention in this connection are Ban- 
croft's History of the United States, McMaster's History 
of the People of the United States, INIiss Grace King's 



PREFACE IX 

New Orleans^ Binger Hermann's The Louisiana Purchase, 
James K. Hosmer's Short History of the Mississippi Valley 
and The Louisiana Purchase, Theodore Roosevelt's Win- 
ning of the West, Charles Gayarre's History of Louisiana, 
Justin Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, 
Cartier to Frontenac, The Mississippi Basin, and The West- 
ivard Movement, and John Fiske's Neiv France and New 
England. 

Various sorts of original materials — correspondence, 
memoirs, contemporary historical writing, and state papers 
— have been drawn upon at every stage of the prepara- 
tion of the book. These are all referred to in the foot- 
notes. Those used most frequently are R. G. Thwaites's 
edition of the Jesuit Relations, J. G. Shea's collection of 
narratives in his Discovery and Exploration of the Missis- 
sippi Valley, B. F. French's Historical Collections of Lou- 
isiana, E. B. O'Callaghan's New York Colonial Documents, 
the writings of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, 
James Madison, Rufus King, John Adams, John Jay, 
Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe, the Secret Journals 
of Congress, Martens's Collection of the Principal Treaties 
concluded hy the Powers of Europe, Margry's Decouvertes 
et Etablissements des Frangais dans V Quest et dans le Sud 
de VAmSrique Septentrionale, Charlevoix's Histoire Gene- 
rale de la Nouvelle France, the Correspondance of Napo- 
leon, the 3Iemoires of Lucien Bonaparte, Richardson's 
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, the Executive 
Journal, the Annals of Congress, and, — most important 
of all, — the American State Papers, Foreign Relations. 

Among the many persons to whom I am indebted for 
valuable assistance in the preparation of this book, I 



X PREFACE 

cannot refrain from making mention of Professor Albert 
Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University, Mr. Dudley O. 
McGovney, also of Harvard, Mr. Thomas J. Kiernan, 
Superintendent of Circulation in the Harvard University 
Library, and Mr. James Lyman Whitney, of the Boston 
Public Library. 

FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG. 

Bloomington, Indiana, 
September 1, 1903. 



CONTENTS 

CnAPTER 

I. The Importance of the Mississippi Valley 

II. The Spanish Discovery of the Mississippi 

III. The Search of the French for the Mississippi . 

IV. La Salle and the Opening of the Great West . 
V. The P^xploration of the Upper Mississippi 

VI. The Beginnings of Louisiana 

VII. The Struggle of the English and French for Possession 

VIII. English and Spanish Neighbors after 1763 

IX. The Navigation of the Mississippi, 1783-1795 

X. Napoleon and the Louisiana Country 

XL The Louisiana Purchase 

XII. Congress and the Problems of National Expansion 

XIII. Establishing the American Regime . 

XIV. The Territory of Orleans and the New Louisiana . 

Index 



1 

8 

45 

81 

133 

169 

214 

294 

400 

460 

495 

539 

575 

608 

657 



zi 



THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

A STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY 
IN THE AMERICAN INTERIOR 

CHAPTER I 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 

THE history of the world is in no small degree the 
history of its great river valleys and of the civili- 
zations that have flourished in them. In ancient times 
the chief prerequisite to a people's prosperity was the 
possession of a fertile and well-watered habitation, such 
as a great river valley affords, and even to-day there is 
nothing of a material sort which is more conducive to 
human progress and happiness, unless perchance it be the 
possession of good harbors and an abundant entrance to 
the high seas. For, while we have grown away from the 
limitations in skill and inventiveness which bound the 
Egyptians so slavishly to the beneficence of the Nile, or 
the Babylonians to that of the Euphrates, we too have 
a vast population to feed, we too want fertile soil, easily 
tillable ground, and an abundant water-supply. 

From the earliest history of our country the river val- 
leys have been chiefly sought for habitation. Not only 
did the early Spanish, and particularly the early French, 
explorers and colonizers follow the watercourses, but the 
English also showed an unmistakable propensity to exploit 



2 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

and utilize first the lands that had been prepared for them 
by the great rivers of the country. The Cavaliers of Vir- 
ginia lined the fertile banks of the James and its tribu- 
taries with their broad plantations, and made the rivers 
almost their only highways of trade and social intercourse. 
The valley of the Potomac received the first settlers of 
Maryland, and that of the Delaware and Susquehanna 
those of Pennsylvania. New York's history was begun 
at the mouth of the Hudson. When the Massachusetts 
colonies began to overflow, it was to the broad and beauti- 
ful valley of the Connecticut that the emigrants turned 
their steps. And the early settlers of the farther south 
kept closely to the larger streams — the Cape Fear and 
Roanoke in North Carolina, the Ashley and Cooper in 
South Carolina, the Savannah in Georgia, and the St. 
John's in Florida. 

And when the Englishman had possessed himself quite 
thoroughly of the lands lying between the Atlantic and 
the headwaters of the Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the 
James, by natural impulse he took up the line of march 
again toward the west into new river valleys, and 
eventually into the greatest of them all. Crossing the 
Alleghanies, he stood upon the threshold of the most 
magnificent heritage that has ever been vouchsafed to an 
enterprising people. Before him stretched to the Gulf, 
to the Rockies, and to the Great Lakes, an area of more 
than a million and a quarter square miles, whose economic 
possibilities no like region in all the world can equal. In 
respect simply to fertility and luxuriance of vegetation 
the valley of the Amazon, of course, excels that of the Mis- 
sissippi. But climatic conditions in the former case almost 



I IMPORTANCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 3 

completely offset any advantages the region may claim as 
an abode for mankind. The distinguishing characteristic of 
the Mississippi Valley is its rare combination of beneficent 
features in the absence of unfavorable ones. In richness 
of soil, variety of climate, number and value of products, 
facilities for communication, and general conditions of 
wealth and prosperity, the Mississippi Valley surpasses 
anything known to the Old World as well as the New. 
Of course, there are most excellent agricultural regions in 
Europe and Asia and Africa, but on a scale by no means 
so extensive as the Mississippi Valley, and without many 
of the collateral advantages which render this region pre- 
eminently adapted to the development of the highest type 
of civilization. In the economy of the world's life for a 
region merely to yield food for the support of a dense 
population is certainly much. But for it to do so under 
conditions that stimulate to energ}'-, thrift, and culture on 
part of its inhabitants is infinitely more. 

The area of the Mississippi Valley may be stated roughly 
at a million and a quarter square miles. All the great 
countries of central Europe — Germany, Austria- Hungary, 
France, and Italy — could be set down in it, and yet there 
would be much room to spare. As a recent writer has 
said, almost every rood of its space " can be made to fur- 
nish a home and sustenance, if not to the farmer, at any 
rate to the ranchman or the miner " ; and it is worthy 
of note that this region is rapidly becoming the greatest 
home of English-speaking peoples on the globe. Com- 
pared with the population which it is capable of support- 
ing, that which it has at present is sparse. From tlie 
statistics of the last census it appears that 40,413,051 



4 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

people now live in the broad central plain between the 
Rockies and the Alleghanies — 52.9 per cent of the total 
population of the country. Justin Winsor, in his West- 
ward Movement, some years ago affirmed that the Mis- 
sissippi basin can easily maintain 200,000,000 people — ■ 
a density about seven times that of this same region 
to-day, or about equal to that of the state of Connecticut. 
More recently Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, in an 
article in Harper s Magazine, has placed the figure as high 
as 350,000,000, which would mean a density practically 
equal to that of Massachusetts to-day. When the possi- 
bilities of intensive farming are taken into account, even 
the latter estimate seems quite within the bounds of 
reason. Hitherto there has been, and even yet is, such a 
superabundance of land in the Middle West that there has 
generally prevailed a luxurious carelessness in the utiliza- 
tion of it, such as fills the European small farmer with 
surprise. Except to the few who actually sit down to 
estimate what our numbers must be four or five hundred 
years hence, the fear of overcrowding which has long 
haunted the peoples of the Old World is here all but 
unknown. 

It is quite probable that by the time the population of 
the Mississippi Valley shall have doubled, as it has done 
every quarter of the past century, that of the East and 
West will be found to have increased in like proportion. 
But one thing is certain — it is the Mississippi Valley 
that must ever continue to provide food for the growing 
population, not merely within its own borders, but through- 
out the entire country. This means that the region must 
permanently retain its agricultural character. JMeasured 



1 IMPORTANCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 5 

by the value of products, the United States as a whole, 
since the decade from 1880 to 1890, has passed from the 
character of an agricultural to that of a manufacturing 
nation. But in the Mississippi Valley this transition 
can and must never occur — at least until that far dis- 
tant day when the limits of agricultural enterprise shall 
have been reached. For a long time to come the growth 
of cities must not progress faster than in a certain pro- 
portion to the increase of the farming population. It 
seems hardly necessary to remark that this does not mean 
any retarding of the substantial progress of culture and 
better living. As time goes on and inventions multiply, 
the city will possess fewer and fewer advantages over the 
country. Even now in many parts of the Mississippi 
Valley rural mail delivery, good roads, telephones, daily 
newspapers, and the consolidation of schools have rendered 
rural life but slightly less desirable in some particulars, 
and vastly more desirable in a good many others, than life 
in the cities. Indeed it may well be that not the least 
of the benefits to be conferred upon the world at large by 
tlie Mississippi Valley and its people will be the practical 
demonstration of how agricultural life can be freed from 
most, if not all, of tlie inconveniences which have been 
supposed to be inevitable to it, and which have been so 
largely responsible for the undue crowding of the people 
into cities in our day. 

The Mississippi Valley has long been what clearly it is 
at present — the most interesting and in some respects 
the most important theatre of our national life. The 
movement into it of the pioneers from Virginia and 
Pennsylvania and New England ; the encounters with 



6 THE OPENING OF THE MIS81SS1JTI chap. 

the Indians and with the French ; the rivalry with the 
Spanish neighbors on the southwest ; the purchase of 
the great western half of the valley from France just a 
hundred years ago ; the memorable migrations of the first 
half of the nineteenth century which gave it its popu- 
lation ; the great question of slavery extension in the 
territories created from it ; the struggle of civil war upon 
its soil and for the settlement of its problems ; and finally 
its marvellous development under the fostering of a 
reunited nation, — all these things, and very many more, 
have not so much contributed to our history as consti- 
tuted the main body of it. Here it is that democratic 
government is being put to the supreme test of efficiency 
over a widely extended domain, and here again it is that 
the problems of capital and labor, science and invention, 
and the diffusion of an educated citizenship, are most 
pressing for solution. The future of the nation may be 
taken to lie closely along the course marked out by the 
men of the Middle West. 

The ligaments by which nature has bound this great 
region together are streams of water — chiefly the Missis- 
sippi and its tributaries. This noble river, with its afflu- 
ents, direct and indirect, said to be more than 100,000 in 
number, constitutes the third largest drainage system in 
the world. The length of the main stream is more than 
2500 miles, and the volume of water which it discharges 
into the sea is second only to that of the Amazon and 
greater than that of all European rivers combined (leav- 
ing only the Volga out of account), being estimated at not 
less than 139 cubic miles annually. It and its tributaries 
provide somewhat over 16,000 miles of navigable water — 



t LMl'ORTANCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 7 

more than any other river system except the Amazon. 
Truly it merits the name bestowed upon it in early times 
by the Chippewa Indians — Mai/ -see-see-bee, "The Father 
of Running Waters." 

The Mississippi is interesting, however, not so much on 
its physical as on its political and economic side. As the 
key to the control of the Middle West the river has had 
a most important part in determining the history of the 
great American interior. It has been the fortune of few 
rivers or other physical features of the globe to appear 
as continuously in the annals of discovery and diplomacy. 
From the earliest discovery by the Spanish, probably in the 
second quarter of the sixteenth century, until the super- 
fluous victory of General Jackson at New Orleans in 1815, 
the control of the great river seemed never quite perma- 
nently settled. Three of Europe's most powerful nations 
contended long and vigorously for the maintenance of 
their authority over greater or lesser portions of its basin ; 
and when the American Revolution created a new power, 
with its frontiers resting on the eastern bank of the river, 
the problem of possession became, if anything, more com- 
plicated than before. It was not until more than a decade 
after the United States had secured all the remaining con- 
tiguous territory by purchase (except the disputed region 
of West Florida) that tlie great river and its valley 
became integral parts of the American nation, no longer 
to furnish fuel for international rivalries and subjects for 
perennial diplomatic negotiation. 



CHAPTER II 

THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

THERE is no way of assuring ourselves just when the 
people of Europe began to discern that the land 
which Columbus had discovered was not Asia. It would 
seem that very few expeditions thither must have con- 
vinced at least the voyagers who actually took part that 
the landfall was neither the desired Cathay nor India. 
The gold-roofed houses and heaps of sea-shore treasure 
with which these countries were said to abound were no- 
where apparent. In their visits to the islands of the 
West Indian group Columbus and his companion adven- 
turers found tropical fruits and fertile soil and curious 
natives, but no gold. The earliest explorations on the 
mainland yielded results no less unsatisfactory. 

Vague rumors were repeatedly encountered to the effect 
that still farther to the west there were lands fully as 
rich as the most vivid Spanish imagination had ever con- 
ceived. This delusion was not infrequently fostered by 
the natives in order to induce the Spanish invaders to 
seek other fields. Of course the search, except in Mexico 
and Peru, was from the outset illusory. It reminds one 
of the childish pursuit of the pot of gold at the rainbow's 
end. But very many decades elapsed after the first dis- 
covery by Columbus before the Spaniards ceased to think 

8 



CIIAI-. 11 THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 9 

that by going westward from Florida they must sometime, 
somewhere, come upon the fabled wealth of the Indies. 
For a great while it was with them a question merely of 
distance and direction. 

It was in search of these western seats of wealth, or at 
least a passage to them, that the early Spanish navigators 
began first to push their way into the Gulf of Mexico, 
then supposed to be some part of the great Indian Ocean 
south from Asia. If we are to believe a considerable 
amount of testimony which has come down to us, the 
first European to sail in the waters of the Gulf was 
Americus Vespucius, a Florentine sailor in the Spanish 
employ, who, as pilot of the expedition of Pinzon and 
Solis, in 1497-1498, visited the coast of Honduras, 
rounded Yucatan, spent some time among the hospitable 
natives of the Tampico region on the Mexican coast, 
skirted the northern sliores of the Gulf eastward to 
Florida, and finally returned to Cadiz by way of Chesa- 
peake Bay and the Bermudas. On this expedition no 
discoveries then regarded as important were made, and 
so little is known about it that there has been perhaps 
no more disputed subject in all the history of American 
exploration. 1 If Vespucius really effected his reputed 

1 There is no satisfactory book in English on "Vespucius and his reputed 
discoveries, though John Fiske deals with the subject quite well in his 
Discovery of America, II. 25-175. Sydney Howard Gay's chapter in Win- 
sor's Narrative and Critical History of America (Vol. II. Ch. II.) is far 
below the average of the monographs in that great work. Mr. Winsor's 
critical notes, however, are excellent. Francisco Adolpho de Varnhagen's 
collection of French and Portuguese monographs, published at Vienna, is so 
valuable that, as Mr. Fiske declared, " No one who has not mastered it in 
all its details is entitled to speak about Vespucius." Other important 
works on the subject are John Boyd Thacher, The Continent of AmericUy 



10 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

circuit of the Gulf he mu,st have beheld lands not seen 
subsequently by Europeans before 1513 and 1519. It 
may even be that the mouth of the Mississippi was 
sighted by him, but there is no evidence whatever to 
lead us to think so. Certainly no practical results fol- 
lowed the expedition. 

Columbus, on his fourth voyage, in 1502, planned to 
reach the Cochin-Chinese coast far to the south, in the 
vicinity of the Malay Peninsula, and so took a south- 
westerly course, which landed him on the shores of 
Honduras.^ The Indians told him of a great sea to 
the southward — the Pacific Ocean, of course — and 
declared that, being once embarked on it, the Ganges 
might be reached in ten days. They told him, too, of 
a narrow passage to the southeast, which unfortunately 
he understood to be a passage of water, i.e. the Strait 
of Malacca, instead of what it really was — a passage of 
land, i.e. the Isthmus of Darien. The remainder of the 
expedition was consumed in a vain search for this pas- 
sage, and for gold. M. Henry Harrisse, the greatest of our 
authorities on the beginnings of the exploration period of 
American history, thinks that before Columbus died he 
understood that the continent which he had discovered was 
not any part of Asia, and that the Spanish government was 

Part III., and Henry Harrisse, Amej-icus Vespucius, the latter, however, 
being merely a book review. The letters of Vespucius have been tran.s- 
lated several times, notably by Clements R. Markham [published by the 
Hakluyt Society]. The narrative of the voyage of 1497-1498 is reprnited 
in the Old South Leaflets, No. XXXIV. 

1 The best accounts of this voyage are those by Wiiisor in his Chris- 
topher Columbus, Chs. XII.-XIV., and by John Boyd Thacher in his 
Christopher Columbus, II. Chs. C.-CXI. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 11 

convinced of this as early as 1501. But the generally pre- 
vailing view is rather tliat Columbus thought only that he 
had failed to reach those parts of the Asiatic continent where 
treasure abounded, and that further search would cer- 
tainly open up a way into the waters on the Indian coast. 

Our knowledge of Spanish exploring enterprise and 
achievement prior to 1511 is extremely unsatisfactory. 
We have only intimations of numerous voyages concern- 
ing which we know next to nothing. For instance, in 
April, 1495, Ferdinand and Isabella published a decree 
authorizing any person to equip an expedition for the 
purpose of discovering "• new isles and continents in the 
Indian Ocean." We are told by a contemporary chroni- 
cler, Peter the Martyr,^ that a number of sea-captains 
availed themselves of the opportunity thus offered. It 
is just possible that some of these penetrated the waters 
of the Gulf far enough to behold the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, but there is absolutely no evidence that such was 
the case. Beginning, however, with Ponce de Leon's 
expedition from Porto Rico to Florida in 1513, we have 
a considerable number of chronicles and so-called his- 
tories from which to draw information. ]Many of these 
are of uncertain reliability, and many are known to be 
utterly untrustworthy; but judicious and painstaking use 
of them has doubtless brought us fairly near the truth — 
as near, at any rate, as we are likely ever to be. 

It is agreed by practically all students of the subject 
that tlie Spaniards had no knowledge of the Mississippi 
prior, in any event, to the year 1519. If Vesi)U('ius or any 

1 Peter the Martyr, Dpcadps, published in l-'il 1 . There is an elaborate 
account of Peter the Martyr in Thacher, Chri.-<l()pher Columbus, I. 3-95. 



12 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

other of the earlier voyagers saw the river, the fact either 
was not reported or was entirely overlooked b}" the chroni- 
clers of the time. In 1517 Francisco Hernandez de Cor- 
dova was put in command of an expedition sent out by 
Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba, toward the southern 
coasts of the Gulf for the purpose of slave-catching in the 
region of Honduras.^ Cordova is declared by the contem- 
porary Spanish historian and philanthropist, Las Casas, to 
have been " very prudent and courageous, and strongly 
disposed to kill and kidnap Indians." ^ Doubtless it was 
chiefly the latter quality that recommended him to the 
service of Velasquez. The chief pilot of the expedition 
was Antonio de Alaminos, who had been with Columbus 
on his fourth voyage, and more than a hundred soldiers 
were sent to assure the success of the undertaking. Cor- 
dova sailed from Santiago in February, nominally for the 
purposes of discovery, since slave-hunting expeditions were 
illegal. After cruising a considerable distance along the 
Yucatan coast, inhabited by the bitterly hostile Mayas, 
Cordova's vessels met with injury from storms so that the 
sailors were compelled to land.^ A treacherous attack from 
the Indians so weakened and disheartened the men that 
the few who remained were glad enough to give up all hope 

1 Dr. J. G. Shea affirms that C6rdova's original destination was the 
Bahama Islands, but that he was carried by storms upon the coast of 
Yucatan, which country then received the name it has since borne. 
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, II. 236. 

2 Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, tom. IV. p. 369. 

8 Another account is that exhaustion of the water supply caused the 
landing. Fiske, Discovery of America, II. 242. This, however, seems 
to have been the occasion of another and equally disastrous landing, on 
the Florida coast on the return to Cuba. See Shea, in Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, II. 236. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 13 

of securing slaves and sail again for Cuba at the earliest 
opportunity. Cordova soon died of his wounds.^ 

In the course of a few months Alaminos, the pilot of 
this disastrous expedition, made his way to the island 
of Jamaica and to the home of the wealthy governor, 
Francisco de Garay. The pilot's heart was still set upon 
steering a way through a '•'• western passage " into the 
waters of the Indian, and he talked so eloquently of the 
advantages to arise from such an achievement that 
Garay was at last persuaded to undertake its accomplish- 
ment. Garay had been a companion of Columbus on the 
hitter's second voyage, in 1493, and was deeply interested 
in everything pertaining to navigation and discovery. 
In the account which Alaminos gave of the gorgeous 
dress of the Mayans and their "strange-looking pyramids 
or towers, ascended by stone steps," the governor dis- 
cerned striking indications that at least the threshold of 
the much-desired Orient had been reached. 

Permission to engage in the exploration of the main- 
land and the search for the western passage was obtained 
from the priors of the Order of St. Jerome, then the 
governors of the Indies,^ and an experienced navigator 
by the name of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda was put in 
command of the expedition. The real cedula granted 
by the Regents in the absence of the Spanish king, 
Charles V., by which Garay was subsequently authorized 

1 The following year the governor's nephew, Juan de Grijalva, was sent 
to the Yucatan coast with a force of 250 picked soldiers to avenge the 
outrages of the Mayas. A battle was fought in which the natives were 
roundly beaten. Grijalva continued exploration along the coast west- 
ward, possibly as far as the Panuco River. 

2 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, II. 237. 



14 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

to colonize the northern coast of the Gulf,^ states that 
tlie expedition of Pineda consisted of four vessels fitted 
out entirely at Garay's expense.''^ It is said to have 
numbered 270 men, with a good supply of horses and pro- 
visions. The route followed is uncertain, but the far- 
thest point reached by the voyagers is known to have been 
the mouth of the Panuco River, about fifty miles from 
the present site of Vera Cruz.^ Landing at this place 
near the end of August, 1519, Pineda's men fell in with 
the followers of Cortes, whose explorations had already 
been in progress several months. Cortes challenged the 
right of Garay to advance into the territories thus pre- 
empted, but his opposition was silenced by the information 
that the Spanish government had specifically sanctioned 
the enterprise. 

One of the most controverted subjects in early Ameri- 
can history is the precise course and achievements of this 
Pineda voyage. Until about twelve years ago it was 
generally assumed by writers that the enterprise took its 
greatest claim to distinction from the fact that it culmi- 
nated in the discovery of the Mississippi River. More 
recent critical study of the evidence in hand, however, 
especially on the part of Dr. Walter B. Scaife and Mr. 
Peter J. Hamilton, has gone far toward discrediting the 
old assumption and transferring the honor of the Missis- 
sippi discovery from Pineda to his later fellow-country- 
man, Hernando de Soto. It may be well to set forth the 

1 In l"i21. 2 Henry Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, 164. 

8 Barnard Shipp, Hernando de Soto and Florida, Ch. III. Many of 
the conclusions arrived at by Ibis author have been superseded, but the 
chapter referred to contains transcripts of much original material on the 
expedition of Francisco de Garay to I'anuco, 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 15 

basis of the old view, and then state the grounds of 
objection to it. According to such eminent authorities 
as Henry Harrisse, Justin Winsor,'^ John G. Shea, and 
John Fiske, it was sometime during the course of Pineda's 
voj^age that the original discovery of the Mississippi oc- 
curred. ^ The account in the real cedula before men- 
tioned says that while navigating the Gulf the adventurers 
entered a river, " very large and very full," where they 
tarried forty days while repairs were being made on their 
vessels. There is much doubt as to whether this discovery 
was made on the westward voyage or on the return. In 
Garay's letters patent it is stated that after entering the 
Gulf, Pineda's vessels found it impossible to emerge by 
way of the northeast on account of " the country of Flor- 
ida found by Ponce de Leon." Turning about, they 
struck a due westerly course along the northern shore of 
tlie Gulf. As the voyage progressed the sailors examined 
carefully "the country, rivers, harbors, inhabitants, and 
all that which deserved to be noted on the said coast." 
When the followers of Cortes were encountered in the 
Tampico region, Pineda's men set up a monument to 
mark the limits of their explorations, and then turned to 
retrace their course. They had sailed westward a distance 
of more than three hundred leagues, taking possession in 
the name of Castile of all the lands which they sighted. 

1 It is but fair to note that in the later course of his studies Mr. Winsor 
came to refer to Pineda's alleged discovery of the Mississippi as at least 
an unsettled question. Narrative and Critical History, II. '292. 

2 Las Casas, in his Historia de las Indias, conveys the idea that the 
Mississippi had been discovered in 1518 by Diego de Cainargo, in charge 
of an expedition sent out by Garay. Harrisse has shown this to be false. 
ITie Discovery of North America, 163. 



16 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

'■'• They then turned back with the said ships," continue 
the letters patent, "and entered a river which was found 
to be very large and very deep, at the mouth of which 
they say they found an extensive town, where they 
remained forty days and careened their vessels. The 
natives treated our men in a friendly manner, trading 
with them, and giving what they possessed. "^ This river, 
according to the old view, was the Mississippi, called by 
the Spaniards the Rio del Espiritu Santo, or the River of 
the Holy Ghost.^ Pineda's party ascended the stream a 
distance of six leagues, and saw on its banks, in that short 
space, no fewer than forty Indian towns and villages 
" covered witli reedes," besides the large settlement at the 
river's mouth.^ 

From this account it would appear that the Mississippi 
was discovered on the return voyage, or in other words, 
when the expedition was sailing from the west toward the 
east. But in the sworn testimony of Garay, found in the 
Archives of the Indies, it is represented that Pineda's dis- 
covery was made " in navigating from north and east to 
south and west."* Fortunately we still possess the map 
made by Pineda's pilots and sent by Garay to the Regents 
in 1519-1520, when petitioning for the privilege of coloniz- 
ing the recently discovered countries.^ On this map is 
found a legend which reads, '■'■From here, Francisco G-aray 
commenced discovering.'''' It is placed to the east from the 

1 Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, 164. 

2 The name was evidently given by Garay. Winsor, Narrative and 
Critical History, II. 237, note. 

8 Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, 108. * Ibid., 168-169. 
^ This map is reproduced in A. J. Weise's The Discoveries of America 
to the Year 1525, opp. p. 278. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE xMISSISSIPPI 17 

Rio del Espiritu Santo in about the locality of the Appa- 
lachicola. The line of discoveiy follows the coast thence 
toward the west and southwest until, after having passed 
tlie Mississippi's mouth, it ends in the Tampico region on 
the jNIexican shore. ^ The sworn testimony of Garay, 
taken in conjunction with the map, makes it highly prob- 
able, under the old view, that the discovery of the Missis- 
sippi was effected during the westward voyage, perhaps 
as early as May or June, 1519. According to Harrisse's 
interpretation of the tangled testimonies that have come 
down to us, Pineda's expedition sailed from Jamaica in 
February or March, went not north by the windward 
passage, but west between Cuba and Yucatan, bore then 
toward the northeast until the Florida coast was reached, 
and being unable to find an outlet in that direction, cruised 
first northwest, then west, and finally southwest, along the 
Gulf shore. The Mississippi was sighted on the westward 
voyage, though it may well have been seen again on the 
return ; for in Harrisse's opinion it is quite impossible to tell 
whether the expedition retraced its earlier course or sailed 
back straight across the Gulf from Mexico to Jamaica.*^ 

Such are the speculations of those who accept the theory 
of the Mississippi's discovery by Pineda. The objections 
to this view may be summarized as follows : (1) there is 
no evidence that the name Espiritu Santo was applied by 
Pineda or his immediate companions to any specific stream 
of water ; (2) the contemporary writer Navarrete, in his 

^ Harrisse, Thp Discovei-y of North America, 170. 

2 Ibid., 173. See an argument for the discovery by Pineda in Henry 
L. Reynolds, "The Discovery of the Mississippi," in the Magazine of 
American Iliatory, XX 11. o7-41. 
c 



18 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

account of the expedition of Pineda, ^ makes no mention of 
the Espiritu Santo, but speaks merely of tlie discovery of 
" a river of very great volume " — a phrase applied by the 
Spaniards with utter lack of discrimination to streams as 
insignificant as the St. John's and the Panuco ; (3) the 
mention of a large town (un gran pueblo^ at the mouth of 
the river in question precludes the Mississippi, for all 
other accounts of the region in this early period go to 
show that these lands, by reason of their swampy and 
unattractive character, were not only uninhabited but 
well-nigh uninhabitable ; (4) the statement that there 
were forty villages on the lower banks of the river like- 
wise argues against the Mississippi, for it seems clear that 
Soto's retreating band twenty-four years later found no 
such inhabitants or trace of them ; (5) the ascent of the 
Mississippi could hardly have been accomplished by Pine- 
da's ocean-going vessels. Nine years later Narvaez's ships, 
small though they were, could not effect an entrance, and in 
1G99 the French under Iberville found it necessary to ex- 
plore the mouth of the stream with improvised boats of very 
diminutive size ; and (6) contemporary maps contain the 
name Espiritu Santo, but applied in every case to a pear- 
shaped bay utterly unlike the mouth of the Mississippi. ^ 
Having shown with apparent conclusiveness that Pineda's 

1 Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Colecci6n de los viages y desaibri- 
mientos que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desde fines del siglo XV. 
torn. III. pp. 64-69. 

- For a very illuminating discussion of the whole subject, especially of 
the unwarranted identification of the Rio del Espfritu Santo with the 
Mississippi, see Dr. Walter B. Scaife's America : Its Geographical History, 
Supplement. [Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Politi- 
cal Science, Extra Volume XIII.] 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 19 

discovery of the lower Mississippi cannot be squared at 
all with contemporary evidences, the critics have gone on 
to demonstrate with equal cogency that what the Span- 
ish navigator really discovered and explored was Mobile 
Bay and Mobile River, and that it was these that the early 
sixteenth-century cartographers intended to designate by 
the name of Espiritu Santo. The location of the name 
on the maps of the time, the close correspondence of the 
descriptions with facts ascertained from other sources, 
and the numerous improbabilities of the Mississippi dis- 
covery, combine to render this newer view the only one 
easily tenable. ^ There is nothing in all the body of con- 
temporary testimony which conflicts with it in the least ; 
there are many things which seem to make it inevitable. 
Under these circumstances the historian can do nothing 
but reject the old for the new. It is possible, of course, 
that Pineda passed close by the Mississippi's mouth, but 
if he did, no genuinely trustworthy record of the fact has 
survived. In all probability he was utterly unaware of 
the great river's existence. 

The Gulf coast region sighted in 1519 was given the 
name Amichel. On their return Pineda's men told great 
stories about its wealth, — how the land " fairly glistered " 
with gold, how the liouses of the natives were filled 
with treasure, and how tlie people wore gold ornaments in 
their noses and ears. They had tales to tell, too, of tribes 
of giants and of pygmies which they had encountered. 

1 A recent and careful statement of the Mobile theory is in Peter J. 
Hamilton's Colonial Mobile, Ch. II. See also Jacob V. Brower's " The 
Mississippi River and its Source," in Minnesota Historical Collections, 
VII. lG-20. 



20 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The natives they reported generally to be very friendly, 
ready to trade, and quite willing to embrace the Christian 
faith. These optimistic views were evidently not shared 
by Garay, for we find him declaring that he " thought the 
coast to be very lytle hospitable, because he saw tokens 
and signes of small store of golde, and that not pure."^ 
On a map made in 1529 the Spanish cosmographer Ribero 
designated the region of the Espiritu Santo as " too far 
from the tropics " to abound in gold. 

Nevertheless Garay sent several more expeditions into 
the Gulf. The first of these was led by Pineda in 1520. 
But this time the intrepid adventurer met death at the 
hands of the Indians before being able to accomplish any- 
thing of note. The same year four caravels were sent out 
under Diego de Camargo to occupy a post near the Panuco. 
The expedition was mismanaged and strife with Cortes's 
men caused a sj^eedy abandonment of the enterprise. In 
1523 Garay fitted out a fleet of thirteen vessels, carrying 
nearly a thousand soldiers, with which he proposed per- 
sonally to undertake the conquest of Amichel. At the 
last moment, however, his troops prevailed upon him to 
sail instead to Panuco, where in a few months Cortes cap- 
tured such of the company as had survived the storms and 
shipwrecks encountered on the Mexican coasts. Garay 
liimself was killed in a conflict with Cortes. 

" To Alonzo Alvarez Pineda alone," concludes Harrisse, 
"belongs the merit of having discovered and ranged be- 
fore any other Spanish captain the shores of the Gulf 
of Mexico which now form part of the United States." - 

1 Reported by Peter the Martyr. 

2 Henry Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, 107. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 21 

Several important results followed this accomplishment. 
In the first place, the mouths of two of the greatest south- 
ward tlowing rivers, the Alabama and the Tombigbee, 
were discovered and marked off for Spanish possession. 
Not until the beginning of the last century was the claim 
founded on Pineda's discovery really given over. Pineda's 
voyage also revealed the uselessness of the search for a 
western passage through the Gulf of Mexico. The chart 
prepared by Garay from Pineda's reports showed that the 
Gulf "bendeth like a bow" and that a line drawn from 
Yucatan to southern Florida would " make the string to 
the bow." Thus was Florida proved not to be an island, 
as Ponce de Leon had considered it, but rather " by huge, 
crooked windings and turninges to bee joyned to this 
maine continent of Tunustitan" (Yucatan). Neverthe- 
less, the exact nature of Pineda's achievements not being 
generally understood, the search for the western passage 
through the Gulf was renewed many times in subsequent 
generations. 

The stories which became current concerning the dis- 
coveries of Pineda and the conquests of Cortes fired the 
imaginative Spaniards with fresh zeal. Without waiting 
to inquire why Pineda's men had not themselves carried 
away some of the treasure which they declared to be so 
abundant among the Indians of the Espiritu Santo, other 
Spaniards set to work to organize expeditions of conquest 
and duplicate in the lands north of the Gulf the career 
of Cortes in the south. Of most note among these was 
Pamphilo de Narvaez, an adventurer of very mediocre char- 
acter and ability, but of unlimited cupidity, who in 1526 
obtained from Charles V. a grant of authority to subdue 



22 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

all the territory between the Atlantic and the River of 
Palms — practically the entire northern coast of the Gulf 
— and to establish at least two towns and two fortresses 
therein. He had some time before been sent to displace 
Cortes, but had been ignominiously put to defeat by the 
Mexican conqueror, so that he now was animated not 
only by the motive of gold-seeking but also by that of 
reputation-repairing. In an official document he styles 
himself in his new capacity " Governor of Florida, Rio de 
las Palmas, and Espiritu Santo " — all the territory as yet 
claimed by the Spaniards in North America, except Mexico. 
His expedition sailed out of the Guadalquivir, June 17, 
1527, spent the following winter in southern Cuba, and 
on April 14, 1528, reached the American continent in the 
vicinity of Tampa Bay. It had been intended not to effect 
a landing until the Rio de las Palmas had been reached ; 
but, by reason of the incompetence of the pilots, the 
voyagers were glad to seek respite from the sea by tarry- 
ing awhile in Cuba. The landing on the Florida coast was 
likewise unexpected, being occasioned by storms. 

Directing his ships to meet him at the harbor of St. 
Mark's,! agreed upon by the pilots as a suitable anchor- 
age, Narvaez, with three hundred men, struck into the 
interior of the country, May 1, 1528.^ It was now for 

1 In Apalachee Bay. The knowledge of the pilots was of course very 
vague, being based wholly on hearsay. Buckingham Smith, The Belation 
of Cabeza de Vaca, Ch. V. 

2 For a recent account of the expedition of Narvaez, and also that of 
Cabeza de Vaca, which followed, see Woodbury Lowery's The Spanish 
Settlements within the Present Limits of the United States, 172-213 
[Putnam, 1901]. See also Theodnrc Irviiig's The Conquest of Florida, 
Ch. II. — an older book — and Barnard Shipp's Hernando de Soto and 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MlSSISSIPri 23 

the first time that the lands north of the Gulf were trav- 
ersed to any considerable distance by men of European 
origin. The journfey westward through the virgin wilder- 
ness, as might be supposed, was not an easy one. The 
natives were treacherous, food was scarce, and fever dis- 
abled many of the men. " Toiling on through swamps 
and forests, wading the lagoons, crossing rivers by swim- 
ming and on temporary rafts, harassed continually by an 
enemy, with whom suddenness and secrecy of attack were 
the first arts of war, their courage and their hopes were 
only sustained by some vague reports from prisoners of 
gold to be found in a distant district called Apalache." ^ 
On the 25th of June, after nearly two months of march- 
ing, the town of Apalache was reached. It proved to 
be a mere hamlet of forty wretched huts, in the middle 
of a dense swamp, from which the Indians had fled, leav- 
ing behind only women and children. Nevertheless Nar- 
vaez's men " gave thanks to God," for in the village they 
found maize with which to appease their hunger, and in 
the neighborhood game was discovered to be abundant. 
The party remained in Apalache twenty-five days. Dur- 
ing that time the Indians recovered from their fright and 
returned to attack the intruders and burn the wigwams 
in which they had taken shelter. Hostility developed so 
strongly that the Spaniards dared not wander any distance 

Florida, Ch. VI. On the disputed question of the landing-place of 
Narvaez, see Appendix J. in Lowery. The proclamation issued at Tampa 
Bay by Narvaez in taking possession of the country for the crown of 
Castile is given in Lowery, 178-180. A most important original source 
of information on the whole subject is The Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, 
translated by Buckingham Smith, and publi.slied at New York in 1871. 
^ Gay, Bryant's Popular History of the United States, I. 153, 



24 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chai- 

from the camp, lest they be shot down or captured for 
torture. Such exploration as could be risked soon demon- 
strated that the stories of gold were the sheerest hoax, 
and that, instead of being wealthy, the surrounding coun- 
try was as poverty-stricken as any the adventurers had 
yet traversed. 1 

Impelled by disease, disappointment, and danger, the 
unfortunate company pressed on until it reached St. 
Mark's, on a bay which Narvaez styled Bahia de Caballos.^ 
The fleet which had been instructed to advance to that 
point was nowhere to be found. ^ In this contingency 
there was manifestly but one thing to be done. Three 
months of bitter experience suggested strongly that a 
return into the wilderness would be equivalent to sui- 
cide. Another fleet must be constructed in which to 
escape from the pestilential country and reach the long- 
desired goal. The 250 men who survived set to work 
laboriously to build five rude boats in lieu of the much 
better ones they had lost. " They knew not how to con- 
struct, nor were there tools, nor iron, nor forge, nor tow, 
nor resin, nor rigging, nor any man who had a knowledge 
of their manufacture ; and, above all, there was nothing 
to eat while building for those who should labor." But 
despair forced invention. Stirrups, spurs, and other iron 

1 Smith, The Belation of Cabeza de Vaca, Chs. VI. and VII. 

2 " Bay of Horses," because wliile building boats there the men 
lived chiefly on horse-flesh. Smith, The Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, 
Ch. VIII. 

3 The vessels had failed to find the harbor which the pilots had agreed 
with Narvaez to seek, and had returned to Tampa Bay. For nearly a year 
they continued to cruise along the Gulf coast, but without encountering 
the slightest trace of the land expedition. 



n THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 25 

articles were wrought into saws, axes, and nails. Pine 
resin was gathered for use as pitch. Seams were calked 
with the fibre of the palmetto. Cordage was manufac- 
tured from the tails and manes of the horses. The shirts 
of the men supplied material for sails. By killing their 
horses and catching shell-fish the toilers managed to sub- 
sist until they should be ready to put to sea, although 
forty died of disease and hunger, besides the many who 
were slain by the Indians. 

September 22 the wretched survivors crowded into 
their five frail barks, and in them set out to complete the 
westward journey to the River of Palms. Lack of skill in 
seamanship, the necessity of landing frequently to obtain 
food and water, and the insubstantial character of their 
vessels compelled the voyagers to keep close to the shore. 
" Enduring always the extremity of suffering from cold, 
and wet, and hunger, they were buffeted when on the 
sea by storms, and repulsed by the Indians when they 
attempted a landing." ' Their only hope was to reach the 
Spanish colony at Panuco. After more than a month's 
perilous voyaging, on the 30th of October, the little 
vessel commanded by Cabeza de Vaca sailed out into the 
placid waters of the easternmost mouth of the Mississippi. 
It was noted that the volume of water entering the Gulf 
was such that the current preserved its freshness for many 
miles out to sea, and the famished soldiers were delighted 
to find that a supply of drinking water was to be had 
without going on shore. ^ In the midst of a little group 

1 Gay, Bryant's Popular History of the United States, I. 155. Smith, 
The Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, Cli. IX. 

2 Smith, 77ie Relation of Cabeza de laca, Ch. X. 



26 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of islands a league from the river's mouth the storm- 
beaten ships at length found secure anchorage. 

One of the most serious needs which the voyagers had 
experienced was fuel with which to parch their corn. By- 
reason of their fear of Indian attacks they had hitherto 
been prevented from remaining long enough on land to 
secure a supply, even if they had had means of transport- 
ing it, and it was now hoped that a short ascent of the 
river might be made and the desired fuel obtained. Sev- 
eral efforts in this direction, however, proved futile. A 
north wind was blowing, and the current of the stream 
was so strong that the vessels could make little headway. 
They succeeded only in getting within a mile and a half of 
land, where a sounding of thirty fathoms was made without 
touching bottom. Two days the men labored, only to find 
that they were but wasting their time and strength. Finally 
two of the five boats capsized, and all the men they carried, 
including Narvaez, were lost. The remaining vessels be- 
came separated, though all ended by putting out to sea 
again toward the west. Storms arose, and on the 6th of 
November Cabeza de Vaca's boat was driven ashore in the 
vicinity of Galveston Bay. At least one other of the three 
was wrecked at the time, and the fate of the remaining 
one, together with its crew, has ever since been in doubt. 
The almost incredible journey subsequently accomplished 
by Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, from the Texan 
coast to Culiacan on the Pacific, a distance of nearly two 
thousand miles, is one of the most striking incidents in all 
the history of exploration and adventure.^ 

^A detailed account of the great adventure is in Smith's translation 
of The Relation of Cabeza de Vaca^ Ch. XV. et sc*/. A brief secondary 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE xMISSISSIPPI 27 

Thus the expedition of Xarvaez resulted only in suffer- 
ing and disaster, brought on largely by the rashness and 
ignorance with which it had been undertaken. Little or 
nothing was added by it to the Spaniards' geographical 
knowledge, except indirectly through the wanderings of 
Cabeza de Vaca. No gold had been found, nor any reli- 
able traces of it. Nevertheless, the disappointments and 
sufferings of the explorers were but dimly understood in 
Europe, and the romance of discovery was even yet but 
slightly tarnished. The relation of Vaca's travels had 
only the effect of further stimulating Spanish zeal. If 
the continent was so very large, as Vaca had proved it 
to be, there manifestly remained yet vast unexplored 
regions, and in these regions must be the riches of which 
so many rumors had been heard. In 1537 Vaca re- 
turned to Spain, where he was welcomed as the " Colum- 
bus of the continent." The account of his adventures 
which he placed in the hands of the king naively implied 
that the lands north and west of the Gulf of Mexico were 
beyond compare the richest in the world. ^ 

Within two years thereafter, Francisco Vasquez Coro- 
nado, with the largest band of Spanish adventurers yet 
mustered in America, was on his way from Culiacan 
northeastward into the very heart of the continent. After 

account is in Lowery's Tlie Spanish Settlements icithin the Present Limits 
of the United States, 198-212. An extract from Cabeza de Vaca's ItcJation 
of the .Tourney to New Mexico is reprinted in the Old South Leaflets, 
No. XXX. See Ad. F. Bandelier's " Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca" in 
the Magazine of Western Llistory, IV. 327-330. 

' Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards 
under the command of Fernando de Soto. Written in Portuguese by a 
Gentleman of the Toicn of Elvas, Cli. II. 



28 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

suffering the great disappointment of finding tliat the 
Seven Cities of Cibola, reported to abound in silver and 
gold, were really only little squalid villages built on the 
highlands, Coronado's party, in 1540-1541, pressed on 
probably as far as the region now known as Kansas. 
Several streams were discovered which were conjectured 
to flow into the Espiritu Santo. Perhaps not one of the 
explorers of the time was more ambitious or more perse- 
vering than was Coronado, and certainly no one conducted 
an expedition toward the interior with half the courage 
and ability. But of course the effort to open up a 
northern Peru was fruitless, and Coronado returned to 
Mexico only to be disgraced and deprived of his governor- 
ship of New Galicia. 

Meanwhile, as a result of Cabeza de Vaca's tales a still 
greater undertaking was preparing. Hernando de Soto of 
Xeres, a companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, 
having asked Charles V. for permission to conquer Florida 
at his own expense, had been appointed at the same 
time Governor of Cuba, Adelantado of Florida, and 
Marquis of certain parts of the lands to be conquered. 
Soto was exceedingly wealthy and was said to have 
"passed all other Captaines and principall persons" in 
bravery in the Peruvian expedition, from which he had 
but recently returned. " When he led in the van of 
battle," says an old chronicler of his exploits, " so power- 
ful was his charge, so broad was the bloody passage which 
he carved out in the ranks of the enemy, that ten of his 
men-at-arms could with ease follow him abreast." He 
was a typical example of the ambitious adventurer who 
left Spain with nothing but blade and buckler, and re- 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 29 

tallied in a few years from America laden with riches and 
honors, and more ambitious than ever. When applying 
at court for his appointment he was careful to appear 
with a numerous band of followers and to make a lavish 
and impressive display of his wealth. Since it was a 
matter of common knowledge that his good fortune had 
come from participation in the conquest of America, the 
announcement of his new plans aroused widespread in- 
terest and excitement. The flower of Spanish chivalry 
gathered about him, eager to share in the new enterprise 
and have a part in its gains. The enthusiasm was raised 
to the highest pitch when it became known that Cabeza 
de Vaca had applied for Soto's position ; for it was 
reasoned that Cabeza doubtless desired the post because 
he knew from observation the wealth of the countries in 
question. Six hundred Spaniards " in doublets and cas- 
socks of silk, pinct and embroidered" and Portuguese 
" in the equippage of soldiers in neat armor " ^ were 
selected and carried to Cuba — " as high-born and well- 
trained men as ever went forth from Spain to win fame 
and fortune in the New World." ^ From Havana, May 1, 



1 Belation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards 
under the Command of Fernando de Soto. Written in Portuguese hy a 
Gentleman of the Toion of Elvas. This is the source from which our 
account of Soto's expedition has been mainly drawn. It was translated 
into English and printed at London in 168(5. Another English version 
of this work is entitled " Virginia richly valued, by the Description of the 
Main Land of Florida her next Neighbor," translated by Richard Ilakluyt 
and published in the Force Tracts, Vol. IV. 9-132. Hakluyt's transla- 
tion of the narrative is printed also in B. F. French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, Part II. pp. 113-220. The name of the author will prob- 
ably never be known. 

2 Winsor, Xarrative and Critical History of America, II. 245. 



30 THE OPENING OF TPIE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

1539, in a fleet of nine vessels, the adventurers set out for 
the hind of their hopes. After a twelve days' sail they 
disembarked on the Florida coast, on a bay which was 
given the name Espiritu Santo. ^ Full of confidence in the 
success of the undertaking, Soto sent most of the ships 
back to Cuba, and with somewhat more than five hundred 
men, two or three hundred horses, and a number of 
bloodhounds, struck off toward the north through the 
wilderness. 

The company numbered more men than had that of 
either Cortes or Pizarro, but no such good fortune awaited 
it. The march was but a melancholy repetition of that of 
Narvaez twelve years before. ^ Much excellent agricul- 
tural country was found, but it was not this that the 
Spaniards were seeking. As for gold, there was none — 
scarcely any longer even rumors of it. The Indians were 
generally hostile, always suspicious ; and as food ran low 
Soto's men had to depend upon overawing and robbing 



1 Because it was discovered on the day of the Feast of Pentecost. 
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, II. 245. For a dis- 
cussion of the question of Soto's landing, see Mr. Buckingham Smith's 
paper " Espfritu Santo " appended to his Letter of De Soto,'" p. 51, Wash- 
ington, 1854. Some have held that the landing was at Tampa Bay, e.g. 
H. H. Bancroft, North Mexican States, I. 600. 

2 The details of it are carefully stated in The Belation of the Gentle- 
man of Elvas, Ch. VIII. et seq. For general accounts see Lowery, 
TTie Spanish Settlements within the Present Limits of the United States, 
Ch. IV. ; Grace King, De Soto and his Men in the Land of Florida ; 
Barnard Shipp, De Soto and Florida; Theodore Irving, The Conquest 
of Florida ; Lambert A. Wilmer, The Life, Travels, and Adventures of 
Ferdinand de Soto; Albert J. Pickett, Livasion of the Territory of Ala- 
bama by One Tliousand Spaniards under Ferdinand de Soto; and John 
W. Monette, History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of 
the Mississijypi, I. 10-64. 



n THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE INIISSISSIPi'I 31 

the natives for subsistence. The treatment accorded the 
Indians by the Spaniards Avas almost unspeakably cruel 
and treacherous. The barbarism of the invaders was 
scarcely a whit surpassed by that of the natives. One 
Indian guide was burned alive because he indiscreetly de- 
clared he knew of no country where gold was abundant ; 
another had to have " a gospell said over him " at frequent 
intervals to prevent his feigning madness and running 
away. At each town which the explorers visited Soto 
demanded of the cacique, or head chief, maize for his men 
and horses, and Indians to carry baggage and do the 
menial work of the camp. Usually the chief was com- 
pelled to accompany the expedition until the next town 
was reached, when he might return. Most of those who 
were given to the Spaniards as temporary servants became 
permanent slaves. 

The first few weeks' march, through the present states 
of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, were sufficient to reveal 
to the adventurers the perils which they might expect 
from hunger, disease, and attacks by the natives.^ At 
Caliquen, in the hope of rescuing a captured cacique, the 
Indians made a desperate onslaught on the Spanish camp. 
They failed in their purpose, but set an example which 
other similarly afflicted tribes were not slow to emulate. 
So tedious was the march that it was not until the last of 
October that the Apalache country was reached, where 
a side expedition sent under Anasco discovered the spot 
where Narvaez's men more than a decade before had built 
their little fleet. The winter of 1539-1540 was spent in 

^ On Soto's route through Georgia, sec Jones, History of Georgia, 
C\\. II. ; through Alabama, PickcU, History of Alabama, I. Ch. I. 



32 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

camp not far from the harbor of St. Mark's. Early the 
next spring the march was resumed toward the northeast. 
The perilous wanderings, endless encounters with the 
natives, disappointments, and sufferings, which their 
travels brought the party throughout the summer of 1540 
would be wearisome to relate. At last, late in October, a 
descent of the Alabama brought the wanderers to the 
junction of that river with the Tombigbee, near Mobile 
Bay. There all the pent-up fury of the Indians broke 
afresh upon the intruders, culminating in the battle of 
Mavila,! which has been well characterized as one of the 
bloodiest ever fought on our soil between white and red 
men in the early days.^ Mavila was an Indian village of 
considerable size and, being well palisaded, the natives 
believed it capable of being defended against the Span- 
iards. Accordingly when Soto and his attendants entered 
it in their accustomed lordly manner, they were given a 
haughty reception. As soon as one of the visitors re- 
sented this by striking a native with his cutlass, the battle 
was on. Five of the invaders were killed in attempting to 
escape from the town. Led by Soto, the main body of 
the Spaniards, who had remained outside the palisade, 
assaulted the town with sword in one hand and torch in 
the other. Soon the houses were in flames, and the battle 
was turned to a slaugliter of the escaping Indians. Esti- 

1 The river and city of Mobile take their name from this Indian village. 
The exact location of Mavila is in dispute. It was probably on the Ala- 
bama River at what is now called Choctaw Bluff, in Clarke County. 

2 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, II. 249. For a 
good brief account of the battle of Mavila, see Peter J. Hamilton, Colo- 
nial Mobile, Ch. III. The original account is in The Relation of the 
Gentleman of Elvas, Chs. XVIII. -XX. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 83 

mates vary, but it seems that as many as 6000 Indians 
perished, while the loss of the Spaniards was very con- 
siderable — about eighty-two killed and every survivor 
more or less wounded.^ One early writer tells us that at 
nightfall only three Indians remained alive, two of whom 
were soon killed fighting ; the last hung himself from a 
tree in the palisade with his bowstring. ^ 

The proximity of Pensacola harbor was now made 
known to Soto, but though his vessels were already await- 
ing him there, he was not ready to return, or even to send 
back a report. Fearing mutiny, he was careful to conceal 
from his followers the opportunity which they now had to 
escape from the wilderness. Yet undaunted and uncon- 
vinced, he set off from Mavila toward the northwest 
into the valley of the Yazoo, in the northern part of Mis- 
sissippi, where the winter of 1540-1541 was spent. Food 
was plentiful, but the discontent of the soldiers was such 
that only a man of Soto's domineering energy could have 
held them from deserting the enterprise. Late in April, 
after a disastrous renewal of hostilities on part of the 
Indians, the march was resumed toward the northwest 
diagonally across the present state of Mississippi to about 
the thirty-fifth parallel — the boundary line between the 

1 Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 16. Shea, following Biedma, says that 
only twenty Spaniards were killed ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory of America, II. 249. 

2 Luys Hernandez de Biedma, Eelaci6n del suceso de la jornado que 
hizo Hernando de Soto. Quoted in Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory of America, II. 249. A copy of the original Spanish manuscript of 
this chronicle is in the Lenox Library at New York. The work was pub- 
lished by Buckingham Smith in 1857 from the original manuscript in the 
Archivo General de Indias at Seville. It may be found in Freuch, Histori- 
cal Collections of Louisiana, Part II. pp. 97-109. 

D 



34 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

States of Mississippi and Tennessee. Seven days sufficed 
to bring the Spaniards to the banks of tlie greatest river 
they had ever seen — the Mississippi, or, as Soto's men 
called it, the Rio Grande (Great River). The stream was 
described as " half a league over, so that a man could not 
be distinguished from one side to the other ; it was very 
deep and very rapid, and being always full of trees and 
timber that was carried down by the force of the stream, 
the water was thick and very muddy. It abounded with 
fish, most of which differed much from those that are 
taken in the rivers of Spain."! 

The Indians in the vicinity seem to have been moved 
more by curiosity than hostility in their treatment of the 
visitors. The inhabitants of one village were so terrified 
by a rumor that Soto intended to attack them that they 
gathered all their portable belongings and withdrew to 
the other side of the river. At length the Spaniards 
made their way down the east bank of the stream to the 
lowest Chickasaw landing, a little below the thirty-fifth par- 
allel, where they made ready for the crossing. ^ Nearly a 
month's delay was occasioned by the fact that the Indians 
had no boats strong enough to transport horses, so that 
the Spaniards had to construct barges for the purpose. 
While engaged in this work they were frequently visited 
by the curious natives, and Aquixo, the leading potentate 
in the lands across the river, undertook with all the bar- 
baric splendor he could command to produce upon the 

' lielation of the Gentleman of Elvas, 112. See Buckingham Smith, 
De Soto, 101-105 and 249-250. 

'^ This is the point generally agreed on by students of the subject, 
though some writers have adopted other theories. See Winsor, Xarrative 
and Critical History, II, 292. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 35 

strangers a lasting impression of his dignity and po^yer. 
'* A multitude of people from the western banks of the 
river," says Bancroft, in describing the scene, "painted 
and gaily decorated with great plumes of white feathers, 
the warriors standing in rows with bows and arrows in 
their hands, the chieftains sitting under awnings as mag- 
nilicent as the artless manufactures of the natives could 
weave, came rowing down the stream in a fleet of two 
hundred canoes, seeming to the admiring Spaniards like 
'a fair army of galleys.' "^ The great cacique, Aquixo, 
who came with this spectacular expedition, carried gifts 
of fish and fruits and bread, and professed the heartiest 
friendship for the Spaniards ; but the latter deemed his 
motives to be only those of treachery, and slew all of his 
followers who sought to effect a landing. By their uni- 
form cruelty toward the natives, as on this occasion, the 
Spaniards persistently defeated their own ends, and added 
to their already too numerous difficulties the most ruinous 
of them all. 

After crossing the river Soto turned northward toward 
New Madrid. Progress was at first very difficult on ac- 
count of the forests and wet bottom lands, but in a few 
days higher ground was reached and the expedition paused 
to recuperate. The Spaniards were here given the un- 
usual experience of being welcomed and worshipped by 
the natives as children of the sun. And when Soto set 
up a cross on one of the little artificial hills on which the 
caciques were accustomed to build their houses,^ they 

1 Bancroft, History of the United States (Centenary ed.), I. 46-47. 
Smith, Thf lielation of the Gentleman of Elcas, Cli. XXII. 

^ "The caciques of this country make a custom of raising, near their 



36 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

brought to him two blind men to be healed. Instead of 
the desired healing, a sermon was preached to them in 
which they were admonished to " demand of the Lord 
who was in Heaven all that they might stand in need 
of." History does not record in what measure the blind 
men were able to appreciate this homily as a substitute 
for the expected restoration of sight. There does not 
seem to have been any general disappointment, however, 
as we learn that a few days later a chieftain of the vicinity 
manifested his good will by selling his two sisters to Soto 
for wives at the goodly price of a shirt apiece. 

The most northerly point reached by the explorers 
seems to have been Pacaha, which unfortunately cannot 
now be identified, but was probably not far south of the 
mouth of the Ohio. The reconnoitring party sent out in 
this direction brought back a report that the country was 
but very sparsely inhabited, but that it fairly swarmed with 
herds of bison, whose robes " were very convenient against 
the cold of that country because they made a good furr, the 
hair of them being as soft as sheep's wool.''^ After forty 
days the march was resumed toward the northwest, and 
subsequently toward the south. Just when Soto's men 
were at the northernmost limit of their journeying, in the 
summer of 1541, they must have been so near the party of 
Coronado that, as a recent writer has suggested, an Indian 

dwellings, very high hills, on which they sometimes build their huts. On 
one of these we planted the cross, and went with much devotion on our 
knees to kiss the foot of it." Biednia, Narrative of the Expedition of 
Hernando de Soto ; in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part II. 
p. 105. These hills were doubtless the "mounds" built by the earlier 
natives. 

1 Smith, The Relation of the Gentleman ofElvas, 115 et seq. 



11 THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 37 

runner in a few days might have carried tidings between 
them. Coronado actually heard of Soto's proximit}^ and 
sent a letter of greeting which, however, failed to reach 
its destination. 1 

Advancing in a generally southerly direction through 
a fertile, well-watered, and thickly populated country, the 
wanderers at length emerged from the forests near the 
site of modern Little Rock in Arkansas. The winter of 
1541-154:2 was spent probably in the valley of the Wash- 
ita, some two hundred miles west from the Mississippi. 
The winter was long and severe, and the sufferings of the 
Spaniards were intense. During the three years which 
had elapsed since the landing at Espiritu Santo 250 of Soto's 
followers had perished, and 150 horses. Even the daunt- 
less leader was forced at last to acknowledge that the 
expedition was a failure. Disappointment and chagrin 
took the place of courage and hope. Gold-hunting was 
forgotten ; escape from the wilderness became the one 
purpose. 

Early in March, 1542, the party advanced down the 
Washita in the hope of reaching the sea, where boats 
might be constructed, after the plan of Narvaez, and a 
return to Cuba thus made possible. The marshes and 
bayous of the Red River were soon encountered, after 
which it was only with the greatest difficulty that the 
Spaniards could make any progress. At length, on Sun- 
day, April 17, 1542, they emerged on the banks of the 
Mississippi at the point where the Red joins the larger 
stream. The distance to the mouth of the Mississippi 
was anxiously inquired of the natives, but not one of them 
1 Winsnr, yarrative and Critical History of America, II. 202. 



38 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

could tell. Evidentl}^ thought the Spaniards, it must be 
considerable. The chief of the surrounding province, 
which bore the name of Guachoya, declared that the 
lower banks of the river were only an uninhabited waste. 
In the hojje that this might not be true, Soto despatched 
a company of nine men to descend the river and bring 
back a report of the character of its lower course. After 
spending eight days in advancing little more than thirty 
miles, they returned with the disheartening information 
that the bayous, marshes, and dense woods almost pre- 
cluded the possibility of land travel in that direction. ^ 
The situation was precarious. The men were fast falling 
sick by reason of the climate, food was scarce, the way of 
escape was unknown, and the Indian chief to whom the 
"children of the sun" applied for aid astutely imposed as 
a condition of giving it that Soto prove his divine origin 
by drying up the river. The outcome may be fitly told 
in the words of the Gentleman of Elvas, who was a mem- 
ber of the unfortunate expedition. " The Gouvernor," 
he says, " fell into great dumps to see how hard it was 
to get to the sea; and worse, because his men and horses 
were every day diminished, being without succour to 
sustaine themselves in the country : and with that thought 
he fell sick . . . being euill handled with fevers, and was 
much aggrieved, that he was not in ease to passe presently 
the River and to seeke him, to see if he could abate that 
pride of his, considering the River went now very strongly 
in those parts ; for it was neare half a league broad, and 
sixteen fathoms deep, and very furious, and ranne with a 
great current ; and on both sides there were many Indians 
1 Smith, The Bdation of the Gentleman of Elras, Cli. XXVIII. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPI'I 39 

and liis power was not now so great, but that hee had 
neede to helpe himselfe rather by flights than by force." ^ 

A malignant fever hastened the end. "... the 21 
of May," continues our chronicler, " departed out of this 
life, the valorous, virtuous, and valiant Captaine, Don 
Fernando de Soto, Gouvernour of Cuba, and Adelantado 
of Florida : whom fortune advanced as it vseth to doe 
others, that he might have the higher fal. He departed 
in such a place, and at such a time, as in his sicknesse he 
had but little comfort : and the danger wherein all his 
people were of perishing in that Countrie, which appeared 
before their eyes was cause sufficient, why euery one of 
them had need of comfort, and why they did not visit nor 
accompanie him as they ought to have done."^ 

At the time of the death of their leader the party was 
still near the mouth of the Red. Soto's body was buried 
first in the ground in the gateway of the camp ; but as 
some Indians were observed to contemplate the freshly 
turned eartli and exchange signs with one another, and as 
the Spaniards wished to keep up as long as possible the illu- 
sion of their own divine, and hence immortal, nature, the 
body was taken from the grave, and at midnight silently 
committed to the waters of the great river.^ The curious 

1 «' Virginia richly valued, by the Description of the Main Land of 
Florida, her next Neighbor," etc., in Richard Ilakluyt, The Friiicipall 
Voi/aijc'S, Xavi(/atians, Trciffiques, and Discoveries, of the English Xation 
(London, 1600), II. 1-181 passim. Quoted in Albert Rushnell Hart, 
American Histonj Told by Contemporaries, I. 59. Or, Smith, Tfie Rela- 
tion of the Gentleman of Elvas, Ch. XXX. 

2 Smith, Tlie Relation of the Gentleman of Elvas, 157. Reprint from 
the Relation in the Old South Leaflets, No. XXXVI. 

' " Assoone as he was dead, Luis de Mo.scoso commanded to put him 
secretly in an house, where hee remained three daies: and remoouing 



40 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chai-. 

Indians were told that the lord for whom they inquired 
had " ascended into the skies for a little while " and would 
"soon be back." 

Before his death Soto, at the solicitation of his fol- 
lowers, had designated his successor. The choice had 
fallen upon Luis de Moscoso, and all the soldiers had 
taken a solemn oath to obey him. Soto's lingering 
pride and ambition having been put to rest, the ques- 
tion was now even more than before simply one of 
escape. Thinking that on the whole travelling by 
land was safer than by the river, the party made an 
extensive detour through the region of Arkansas, har- 
assed as ever by hunger, fevers, and treachery of the 
natives. After wearing themselves out by marching 
and countermarching in the deep forests, they deter- 
mined to return to the Mississij^pi and follow its cur- 
rent as the only sure means of reaching the sea. After 
a journey characterized by almost untold hardship, they 
once more stood upon the banks of the great river, in 
December, 1542, at Minoya, a few miles above the 
mouth of the Arkansas. They were now considerably 
farther from the sea than they had been at the time of 
Soto's death. 

Amid frequent attacks from the natives, and with 

him from thence, commanded him to bee buried in the night at one of the 
gates of the towne within the wall. And as the Indians had scene him 
sick, and missed him, so did they suspect what might bee. And passing 
by the place where hee was buried, seeing the earth mooved, they looked 
and spake one to another. Luys de Moscoso vnderstanding of it, com- 
manded him to bee taken vp by night, and to cast a greate deale of sand 
into the mantles, wherein hee was winded up, wherein hee was carried in 
a canoe, and throwne into the middest of the riuer. . . ." The Gentle- 
man of Elvas, Hakluyt's translation, as before. Force Tracts, IV. 97. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 41 

malarial diseases threatening to exterminate the entire 
company, Moscoso's men set to work to construct boats 
in which to make the journey to the Gulf. Owing to 
the scarcity of materials and the crudeness of their 
tools, the work was very tedious and wearisome. The 
horses had to be killed and their flesh dried to provide 
food. The few poverty-stricken Indians of the neigh- 
borhood were robbed of the scanty provisions they had, 
so that many of them died of starvation. At last seven 
small barges were completed for the carrying of the 372 
men who remained. ^ The craft were necessarily very 
frail, and a heavy wind must have capsized them. But 
fortunately the weather continued favorable after tlie 
embarkation, July 2, 1543, and the trip to the Gulf — a 
distance of about five hundred miles — was successfully 
accomplished in just seventeen days. 

No time was to be lost, because food was running 
very low and the Indians were increasingly hostile. As 
soon, therefore, as the Gulf was reached the voyagers 
turned westward, travelling at such speed as they could 
and keeping generally within sight of the shore line. 
Fifty days' sailing brought the survivors — now reduced 
to 311 — to a place of security, and on the 10th of 
September the seven weather-worn barks were steered 
into the mouth of the hospitable Panuco River. Six 
days afterward the exhausted sailors were in the Spanish 
settlement at Tampico. " Haggard, gaunt, half-naked, 
having only a scanty covering of skins, looking more 
like wild beasts than men, they kissed the ground when 
they landed among their countrymen, and o]i bended 
1 Smith, The Belation of the Gentleman of Elvas, Ch. XXXV. 



42 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

knees, with hands raised above them, and their eyes to 
heaven, remained untiring in giving thanks to God." ^ 

After Soto's expedition Spanish exploring enterprise 
languished. More than two hundred years elapsed be- 
fore we hear of any further attempt on part of the 
Spanish government to possess the region about the 
Mississippi. During the next two or three decades 
after Soto there were a few expeditions undertaken by 
private individuals for the exploration of Florida, but 
without exception their ending was disastrous. For 
very many decades the Mississippi country continued 
untrodden by the Spaniard. Successive failures to find 
the coveted gold on the northern shores of the Gulf led 
to the centring of attention almost exclusively on the 
countries farther south where it had been repeatedly dem- 
onstrated that the precious metals did exist. Already, 
too, the Spanish nation was entering upon its long and 
fatal decline. Greed for wealth without labor, absolu- 
tism in government, and bigotry and intolerance in 
religion were crushing out the best part of Spanish 
life and energy. Those who had grown rich by plunder 
in America returned to Spain to waste their ill-gotten 
treasure in extravagant living. Of the rest of the 
people, those who were best fitted to perpetuate Spanish 
glory and achievement were systematically persecuted 
on* religious or political grounds, and rendered wholly 
incapable of service to the state. By the end of the 
sixteenth century the era of Ponce de Leon and Narvaez, 
of Coronado and Soto, had passed completely. 

1 Gay, Bryant's PopuJnr Historii of the. United States, I. 170 ; Smith, 
T7ie Relation of the Gentleman of Elvas, Chs. XLI. and XLII. 



II THE SPANISH DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 43 

After all has been said, there remains considerable 
difference of opinion as to who of the Spaniards is 
most properly to be considered the discoverer of the 
Mississippi. Some look upon Pineda's possible visit to 
the river's mouth in 1519 as amounting to a discovery. 
Others, accepting the story of Cabeza de Vaca that in 
the course of his wanderings, on the 30th of October, 
1528, he crossed one of its mouths, deem the honor of 
the discovery to belong to this famous adventurer.^ 
And perhaps a greater number of people, if asked who 
discovered the Mississippi, would reply by the name of 
Soto. 

In a very real sense the discovery of the Mississippi 
River, just as that of the American continent, can be re- 
garded as progressive, so that all these explorers, and 
quite a number more, had more or less part in it. It may 
be that Pineda was the first to see the waters of the great 
river, but if so he comprehended not at all the vast 
extent of the stream and its drainage system. There 
can be no doubt that both Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca 
were at the Mississippi's mouth, but there is no evidence 
that they had any appreciation of its importance. Unques- 
tionably it was Soto who first explored the river's banks 
to any considerable distance, and it must have been by 
him and his men that the first approach toward an 

^ Mr. Buckingham Smith spent much time in the study of Cabeza de 
Vaca's wanderings, and was convinced that not only was this story true, 
but that \''aca liad also crossed the river much farther north. At one time 
Mr. Smith thought the passage of the Mississippi to have occurred as far 
north as the southern boundary of Tennessee, but in later writings he 
tracked the traveller nearer the Gulf. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History of America, II. 287. 



U THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, ii 

adequate conception of the magnitude and importance 
of the Mississippi was made. As has been said, for 
more than two centuries nothing further was learned 
by the Spaniards concerning the river, so that such 
knowledge as they possessed of it must have been lost 
except for the dust-covered narratives of the Gentle- 
man of Elvas and his contemporaries. The opening of 
the Mississippi to the knowledge and use of the world 
remained to be accomplished by another people, the 
French, who in turn were to give way to still another 
before the valley of the "great water" should be occu- 
pied and utilized. Nevertheless the Spaniard had yet 
much to do in shaping the history of the Mississippi be- 
fore the final triumph of the Anglo-Saxon in the Middle 
West. 



CHAPTER III 

THE SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 

EXCEPT as a basis for subsequent territorial claims, 
' the discovery of tlie Mississippi by the Spaniards 
might as well never have occurred. The Spaniard came 
to the Mississippi country for gold, and, not finding it, 
withdrew in ill-concealed disgust. The primeval wilder- 
ness which had been the scene of his eager search, his 
perilous adventures, and his crushing disappointments, 
was left without any other memorial of him than new- 
made graves and here and there a wooden cross or a for- 
gotten utensil. The whole work of discovery had to be 
wrought out anew nearly a century and a half later, and 
this time by the efforts of a different people and from an 
entirely different direction. The glory of revealing to 
the world the nature and extent of the Mississippi and its 
great drainage system remained for the fur-trader and 
missionary from New France. The Spaniards had never 
consciously searched for the river and had almost no 
appreciation of its value when they did happen to stumble 
upon it. The French, on the other hand, sought the Mis- 
sissippi in a large measure for its own sake, being drawn 
tliither by a desire for more extended trade routes and 
better facilities for the carrying of the gospel to the 
remoter Indian tribes. The story of the French discovery 
of the Mississippi is therefore the story of a persevering 

45 



46 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

search which was finally rewarded by the attainment of 
its object, and not that of a series of accidents, as in the 
case of the Spanish discovery. 

The search for the Mississippi may be said to have been 
begun by the French about the year 1634. In that year 
the enterprising explorer of the St. Lawrence, Samuel de 
Champlain, desiring to prove whether a western passage 
to the " Sea of China " might not be discovered by way of 
the upper Ottawa, despatched an intrepid adventurer by 
the name of Jean Nicolet on a westward journey whose 
ultimate goal, if all things went well, was to be the " great 
salt sea " between America and Asia. Stories were cur- 
rent among the Indians to the effect that far to the west 
there was a hairless and beardless people who travelled 
in enormous canoes, and who had come into their present 
habitations from a land bordering on a great body of water 
that was not fresh. Cliamplain was curious to know 
what foundation there might be for such rumors, and 
whether profitable trade routes might be o[)ened up for 
the French in this direction. Nicolet had been in 
/Vmerica since 1618, and under the guidance of Champlain 
had spent most of his time among the Ottawas and Nipis- 
sings, acquainting himself with the Indian language and 
character.! He w^as therefore eminently prepared, not 
merely by his qualities of endurance and hardihood, but 
also by his familiarity with the speech and mode of life of 
the natives, to undertake just such a mission as Champlain 
had in mind. 

1 Benjamin Suite, Melanges (V Histoire et de Litteratnre, 426, 4.S6 
(Ottawa, 1876). R. G. Thwaites [editor]. The Jesuit Relations and 
Allied Dncmnents, VIII. 295-296. 



in SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPl'T 47 

Starting from Three Rivers, on the upper St. Lawrence, 
probably about the Urst of July, 1634,^ Nicolet ascended 
the Ottawa, and journeyed on by way of Lake Nipissing 
and the Georgian Bay into the Huron country where 
seven Lidians were secured as guides, hi the expectation 
of coming among Orientals, and with the purpose not to 
appear too foreign when he should arrive there, the 
thoughtful traveller had taken care to include in his sup- 
plies a Chinese gown of damask, " all strewn," according 
to the chronicler, " with flowers and birds of many colors." ^ 
After traversing the eastern and northern shores of Lake 
Huron, Nicolet's party at length arrived at Sault Ste. 
Marie at the southeastern extremity of Lake Superior, a 

1 The date has been in doubt, but Suite, in his " Notes on Jean Nicolet " 
(printed in the Collections of the Wiscojisin Historical Society, VIII. 
188-194), seems to have established at least the reasonableness of the 
view that Nicolet left Three Rivers in the company of Brebeuf and 
Daniel, two priests who are known to have started for their missions 
July 1, 1634. Earlier writers, and some less scholarly ones to-day, assign 
Nicolet's expedition to 1639. Even John Fiske does this {The Discovery 
of America, IL 532). See the account by Barth^lemy Vimont in the 
Jesuit Relations (1642-1643), XXIII. 275-279 ; also C. W. Bulterfield's 
monograph, The History of the Discovery of the Northwest by John Nicolet 
[Cincinnati, 1881]. In addition to these works the following may be re- 
ferred to for general discussions of the Nicolet expedition : J. V. Brower, 
"The Mississippi River and its Source," Minnesota Historical Collections, 
VII. 40-46; Henri Jonan, "Jean Nicolet" (trans, by Grace Clark) in Wis- 
consin Historical Collections, XL 1-22 ; and Benjamin Suite, " Les 
Interprfetes du temps de Champlain," in Memoirs of the linyal Society 
(f Canada, 1883. In the Wisconsin Historical Collections, XI. 23-25, is 
an excellent Nicolet bibliography prepared by C. W. Butterfield. A brief, 
popular account is in Thwaites, Story of Wisconsin, Ch. I. 

- This is the conjectural explanation of Parkman, La Salle and the 
Discovery of the Great West, p. xxiv. It may be that Nicolet had no 
such romantic idea, but expected merely to appeal with his robe to the 
Indian's love of finery. 



48 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

point beyond the furthest reach of previous exploration. 
Turning again toward the south the travellers followed 
the coast of the northern peninsula of Michigan as far as 
the Straits of Mackinaw. This latter point is indeed one 
of the most strategic in all the interior of the American 
continent;! but Nicolet and his men did not appreciate 
it as such because Lake Erie was not then known to 
exist, and the all-water route from the interior to the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence was still a matter of the sheerest 
speculation. 

From Mackinaw Nicolet continued to skirt the shore of 
Lake Michigan until he had reached the southern extrem- 
ity of Green Bay. There he encountered the friendly 
Winnebagoes and, dressed in his gaudy Chinese robe, 
which served excellently to inspire admiration, gave them 
their first exhibition of fire-arms. We may well believe 
the effect to have been startling. Says a contemporary 
chronicler : " No sooner did they perceive him than the 
women and children fled, at the sight of a man who 
carried thunder in both hands, — for thus they called the 
two pistols that he held. The news of his coming quickly 
spread to the places round about, and there assembled 
four or five thousand men. Each of the chief men made 
a feast for him, and at one of these banquets they served 
at least six score beavers." ^ The Winnebagoes, being of 

1 R. G. Thwaites, "The Story of Mackinac," Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, XIV. 1-16 ; Van Fleet, Old and Xetv Mackinac, Ann Arbor, 
1870. 

2 Barth^lemy Vimont, Belation . . . en Vannee MDCXL. (Vols. 
XVII. -XX. in Thwaite.s's edition). Vimont succeeded Le Jeune as Supe- 
rior of the Jesuit Order in New France in 1630. Although his name 
appears on the title-page of the Relation for 1640, it is probable that he 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 49 

the Dacotah stock, spoke a language unintelligible to Nico- 
let, but when he ascended the Fox River to the country 
of the Algonquin Mascotins (in the region of Green Lake 
County, Wisconsin) he found once more a people whose 
speech he readily understood. From them he learned 
many things of interest. Most important was the infor- 
mation that off toward the south, a three days' jourjiey, 
was a " great water " which might be reached by ascend- 
ing the Fox still farther, crossing a short portage, and 
then descending a stream tributary to the "great water." 
The manner in which the Indians spoke of the " great 
water" conveyed the impression that it was a sea rather 
than a river ; and forty years more were to elapse before 
the Fox- Wisconsin route was to be traversed, and the real 
character of the " great water " — which was of course 
the Mississippi — made known. 

We cannot tell definitely why Nicolet did not attempt 
to make the. passage. Perhaps he felt that in learning 
authoritatively, as he thought, of the close proximity of 
the sea, he had accomplished the work which his master 
had given him to do. After visiting the country of the 
Illinois tribe to the southward, he returned down Green 
Bay, receiving friendly attention from the Pottawattomies 
on the western shore of Lake Michigan, passed again 
through the Huron country, joined the usual summer 
trading expedition down the Ottawa, and reached Three 
Rivers in July, 1635, after an absence of almost precisely 
one year. He was rewarded by being made commis- 
sioner and interpreter at Three Rivers, but his achieve- 
merely edited the volume and transmitted it to Paris for publication. 
See Thwaites, Jesuit lielations, XVIII. 2. 



60 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chai-. 

ments fell far short of being appreciated at their full 
importance. Champlain died in the year of Nicolet's 
return, and for a long time to come there was no man 
of like energy in control of French exploring enter- 
prises in America. Had Champlain lived, Nicolet's ex- 
ploration would doubtless have been followed up at once, 
and the Mississippi might well have been discovered 
within very few years. But as it was, live years 
elapsed before even an account of the expedition was 
embodied in the records of the Jesuits.^ Scientific in- 
terest perished for a time with Champlain. The Mis- 
sissippi remained merely the rumored "great water," 
understood by the French to be nothing more or less 
than the sea intervening between America and the 
Chinese coast. ^ 

Missionary spirit, however, remained to impel west- 
ward movements. In 1G41 Fathers Raymbault and 
Jogues visited the Indians in the vicinity of Sault Ste. 
Marie at the eastern outlet of Lake Superior, and 
preached to audiences numbering two thousand or more. 
Ten times as many redskins were then at the Sault as 
usual, because the Pottawattomies had fled thither from 
their more southerly homes, which were being overrun by 
wandering bands of Iroquois. The priests heard numer- 
ous rumors of a great body of water off to the west and 
of an exceedingly vigorous people — the Sioux of later 

1 In the volume for 1640, wliose title-pa^e bears the name of Bar- 
th^lemy Vimout. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 
IV. 302. 

2 Nicolet himself was drowned in the St. Lawrence in 1642 -while 
returning from an errand of mercy to Quebec. Thwaites, Jesuit lielctr 
tions, XXIII. 275. 



Ill SEAKCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 51 

times — dwelling upon its banks. Raymbault died at 
the .Sault,^ having, as Vimont says in his Relation^ " had 
his path diverted from China to heaven." In August, 
1642, Father Jogues was captured by the Mohawk tribe 
of Iroquois, along with twelve canoes of Hurons, and 
carried away to the region of Lake Champlain to endure 
a year of captivity .^ The mission at Sault Ste. Marie 
lingered on, but the ravages of the Iroquois prevented 
communication between it and the eastern settlements 
for several years. 

In 1649 the entire tribe of Hurons was dispersed by 
the advance of the hostile Iroquois.^ Many of the refu- 
gees wandered westward into the Green Bay district, 
and even as far as the Mississippi. For a time the 
Iroquois war rendered exploring enterprises quite out of 
the question and the work of the missionaries extremely 
precarious. "• One by one," says a recent writer, " the 
Jesuit missions in the Huron country succumbed to 
the onslaughts of the dreaded foes. St. Joseph, St. 
Ignace, Ste. Marie, all fell to rise again beyond Lake 
Huron ; and by the middle of the seventeenth century 



1 Thwaites, Jesnit Relations, XXIII. 273. This is Winsor's view, 
Carder to Frontenac, 160. Mr. Charles Moore, in his Xort/iwest under 
Three Flags, 8, asserts Raymbault's death to have occurred at Quebec. 

2 Jogues was rescued by the Dutch in 1643. He was sent to France, 
but returned to America a year later, only to become a martyr in tlie 
Iroquois-Huron war in 1647. Father Jofjues's account of liis experiences 
among tlie Iroquois may be found in the Collections of the New York His- 
torical Society, Second Series, III. Part I. 173 et seq. An interesting 
extract is in Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, I. No. 40. 
Parkman, The Jesuits in Xorth America, Ch. XVI. 

2 See the grapliic account of this movement in Parkman, The Jesrtits 
in North America, Cli. XXVII. 



62 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

all that great stretch of country from the St. Lawrence 
to the Straits of Mackinaw was debatable territory, 
traversed alike by white man and red only at the con- 
stant risk of ambush and battle." ^ But since the work 
of the Jesuits had been most successful among the 
Hurons, this movement had not a little to do ultimately 
with enticing the missionaries into the remote West, in 
order to follow up their unfortunate converts and at 
the same time spread the Christian religion in parts 
hitherto unknown. ^ 

By the middle of the century fresh rumors were afloat, 
based oh the tales of the Indians, concerning the "' great 
water" in the West. The Jesuit Relation of 1654 speaks 
of the sea separating America from China as being only 
a nine days' journey from Green Bay. Likewise it was 
reported that the sea was very narrow and easy of pas- 
sage. Many stories were current which seemed to con- 
firm this idea. Among them was that of a Jesuit 
missionary, Father Grelon, who, after serving at a mis- 
sion on Lake Huron, had been stationed in Chinese 
Tartary and had there encountered a woman who liad 
belonged to his congregation in Canada. The accepted 
explanation was that she had been sold from tribe to 
tribe until she had passed from America into Asia — a 
consummation which certainly strengthened the theory 
that the two continents were quite near each other. 

1 Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags, 8. 

2 "On the Condition of the Huron Nation, and of its Latest Defeat 
by the Iroquois," Thwaites, Jesuit Belations, XLV. (16o9-1060), 241- 
261. The handful of Wyandots, now in Kansas, is all that remains of 
the great Huron tribe. Parkman, Tlie Jesuits in Xorth America, Ch. 
XX Nil. 



HI SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 53 

Once Hgaiii the spirit of adventure was stirred, and 
scientific and commercial interests came to the reenforce- 
ment of religions zeal. In August, 1654, two French 
traders penetrated the region west of Lake Michigan, 
returning two years later with a goodly stock of furs 
and an abundance of stories regarding the geography 
of the West. It is conjectured that these two men were 
Medard Cliouart, Sieur de Grosseilliers, and Pierre 
d'Esprit Radisson, who at any rate are known a little 
later to have engaged in similar undertakings. ^ In 1656 
a party of thirty Frenchmen set out for Lake Superior, 
but found the trip impracticable owing to the hostility 
of the Iroquois. 

In 1658-1659 Grosseilliers spent several months trad- 
ing and exploring on the shores of Lake Superior. The 
Sioux Indians, among wliom he lived, told him of a great 
river some distance south whose valley their own people 
occupied. In the spring of 1659 Grosseilliers returned to 
the St. Lawrence, whence he, together with his brother- 
in-law Radisson and a number of Huron guides, started 
off again within a few weeks for Lake Superior. They 
explored the southern shore of the lake as far west as 
La Pointe — the site of the present city of Ashland. 
" They were fortunate enough," says the Relation of 
1659-1660, " to baptize there two hundred little children 
of the Algonquin nation, with whom they first made 
their abode. These children were the victims of disease 
and famine ; and forty went straight to heaven, dying 

1 This is Suite's view, supported by Winsor, Cnrtier to Frontrnac, 183. 
For adverse arguments see Ileury C. Campbell, " Radisson and Grosseil- 
liers," iu American Historical Jieview, V, 22G-237. 



54 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

soon after baptism."^ During the winter season the two 
Frenchmen made many excursions among the surround- 
ing tribes, finding among others a remnant of the Hurons, 
who had been compelled to bury themselves in the forests 
beyond the reach of Iroquois fury. " These poor people," 
says the Relation, " fleeing and pushing their way over 
mountains and rocks, through these vast, unknown for- 
ests, fortunately encountered a beautiful river, large, 
wide, deep, and worthy of comparison, they say, with our 
great river St. Lawrence."^ 

The latter part of the explorers' travels is involved in 
much doubt. " We weare," says Radisson, " 4 moneths 
in our voyage w*''out doeing any thing but goe from 
river to river. We mett severall sorts of people. We 
conversed w*"* them. By the persuasion of some of 
them we went into ye great river that divides itself in 
2, where the hurrons [Hurons] w*^ some Ottanake and 
the wild men (Indians) that had warrs w*^ them had 
retired. There is not great difference in their language 
as we weare told. This nation have warrs against those 
of forked river. It is so called because it has 2 branches, 
the one towards the west, the other towards the south, 
which, we believe, runns towards Mexico, by the tokens 
they gave us."^ The identity of these rivers is uncer- 
tain. It is difficult to make the description apply in any 

1 Thwaites, Jesxdt Belations, XLV. 235. 

2 Ibid., XLV. 235. 

' Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson, being an Account of his Travels 
and Experiences among the Xorth American Indians from 1652 to 1684, 
pp. 167-168. Transcribed from the original manuscripts in the Bodleian 
Library and the British Museum. Published by the Prince Society, 
Boston, 1885. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 65 

way to the Mississippi unless, as John Fiske suggests, 
the rivers meant were the ^Mississippi and the Missouri. ^ 
This would involve conceding that Radisson and Gros- 
seilliers were the discoverers of the Mississippi — a con- 
clusion far from being accepted by most students of the 
subject. Some have even gone so far as to maintain that 
Radisson's account is a pure fabrication. ^ This seems 
quite unwarranted, though we must suppose it to be as 
full of errors as it is of incongruities. A manuscript 
prepared merely from memory and occasional hasty notes, 
as it was, could hardly be otherwise. On the whole, 
it is safest to conclude that the travellers encountered 
only some of the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi. 
While they must have been at no great distance from the 
main stream, their narrative could hardly have left so 
much doubt about the matter if they had really seen it. 
At any rate, we know that after leaving the " Forked " 
River, the explorers traversed the entire region about the 
western end of Lake Superior, and that they heard from 
the natives many things which tended strongly to con- 
firm their belief that the China Sea was not far distant. 

1 John Fiske, Neio France and New England, 101. Gideon D. Scull, 
in his introduction to the Prince Society edition of the Voyages, declares 
it a fact that "during the third voyage Radisson and his brother-in-law 
went to the Mississippi River in 1<)58-165!)." One's opinion on the question 
will be determined almost wholly by his interpretation of Radisson's 
obscure language. 

2 H. C. Campbell, "Radisson and Grosseilliers," American Historical 
Review, V. 226-237. R. G. Tliwaites, "The Third Voyage of Radisson," 
Wisconsin Historical Collections, XI. 6(5, accepts the theory of Radisson's 
discovery of the Missi.ssippi, See Mr. Campbell's illuminating paper on 
" Radisson's Journal : its Value in History," in Proceedings of the State 
Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Forty-third Annual Meeting, held 
December 12, 1896. 



66 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chah. 

In the summer of 1660 they returned to Three Rivers 
with a flotilla of sixty canoes laden with furs.^ 

In August of the same year Grosseilliers, accompanied 
by several traders and an aged Jesuit missionary, Rene 
Menard, made another trip to Lake Superior. The expe- 
dition was successful from the commercial, though not 
from the religious, point of view. The priest, Menard, 
set out from the southern shore of Lake Superior to visit 
a remnant of the Hurons in central Wisconsin, and was 
never seen again b}^ the French. His fate is unknown, 
but at least one writer ^ avers that the Mississippi was 
discovered in the course of his wanderings. It may have 
been so, but evidence is almost wholly lacking. Grosseil- 
liers and his party returned to Three Rivers in 1663. 

The Relation of 1659-1660 contains an interesting nar- 
rative of a Jesuit Father (probably Gabriel Druillettes) 
who had recently met and conversed with a converted 
Indian after the latter had spent two years in wandering 
through the region of Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. 
The account is a characteristic bit of geographical specu- 
lation of the time. " The Savages," it goes on to say, 
" dwelling about that end of the lake Superior which is 

1 A carefully annotated reprint of Radisson's third and fourth Voyagps, 
prepared by K. G. Thwaites, is in Wisconsin Historical Collections, XI. 
64-96. See sketches of Radisson and Grosseilliers by Edward D. Neill in 
Minnesota Historical Collections, V. 401-403; Wisconsin Historical Col- 
lections, IX. 292-298 ; and Magazine of Western History, VII. 412-421 ; 
also by Henry C. Campbell in Parkman Club Ptiblications, No. II. 
[Milwaukee, 1896]. 

■^ Nicholas Perrot, in his Memoirs. Perrot was one of tlie better class 
of French adventurers in the West. On Menard's career, Thwaites, Jesuit 
lielations, XLVIII. lir)-143. See al.so H. C. Campbell's monograph on 
Menard, Parkman Club Publications, No. XI. [Milwaukee, 1897J. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FKEN'CH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 57 

farthest distant from us, have given us entirely new light, 
uhich will not be displeasing to the curious, touching the 
route to Japan and China, for which so much search has 
been made. For we learn from these peoples that they 
find the Sea on three sides, toward the South, toward the 
West, and toward the North ; so that, if this is so, it is a 
strong argument and a very certain indication that these 
three Seas, being thus contiguous, form in reality but one 
Sea, which is that of China. For, — that of the South, which 
is the Pacific sea and is well enough known, being con- 
nected with the North Sea, which is equally well known, 
by a third Sea, the one about which we are in doubt, — 
there remains nothing more to be desired than the passage 
into this great Sea, at once a Western and an Eastern sea. 
Now we know that, proceeding Southward for about three 
hundred leagues from the end of Lake Superior, of which 
I have just spoken, we come to the bay of St. Esprit,^ 
which lies on the thirtieth degree of latitude and the two 
hundred and eightieth of longitude, in the Gulf of Mexico, 
on the coast of Florida ; and in a southwesterly direction 
from the same extremity of Lake Superior, it is about two 
hundred leagues to another lake, which empties into the 
Vermilion Sea on the coast of New Granada, in the great 
Soutli Sea. It is from one of these two coasts that the 
Savages who live some sixty leagues to the West of our 
I^ake Superior obtain European goods, and they even say 
that they have seen some Europeans there." ^ 

Meanwhile, during the earlier years of the decade from 

^ Equivalent to the Spanish Espfritu Santo. On the Franquelin map 
of ]r»84 it appears at what is now Mobih' Hay. 
2 Tliwaites, Jesuit Belations, XLY. 221-223. 



58 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

1660 to 1670 French enterprises in the New World were 
taking on a new lease of life. This was due in part to 
Louis XIV. 's assumption of personal control of the French 
government, and also in perhaps a greater measure to the 
elevation of the energetic Colbert to the comptrollership 
of finance and the ministry of marine in France. By Col- 
bert's influence Jean Baptiste Talon, a man of ability 
almost equal to that of Colbert himself, was appointed 
intendant of New France, and Daniel de Remy, Sieur de 
Courcelles, governor. Courcelles was not particularly in- 
terested in geographical questions, but for nearly a decade 
Talon was to be the guiding genius of French exploration 
in the American interior. For the first time since the 
days of Champlain the leading authority ^ in the French 
colonies looked upon the Far West as worthy of exploration 
and occupation at any cost. Talon was from the first de- 
termined to follow up the explorations made by Nicolet 
a generation before. His plans embraced the opening of 
all the West by French activity and the actual establish- 
ing of French rule over all the interior. His purposes in 
this direction were so pronounced that when the Spaniards 
heard of them they greatly feared the carrying of the 
French colors down the Mississippi Valley all the way to 
the Gulf — a consummation actually attained a little later, 
though not under Talon's administration. Talon also 
urged upon King Louis the necessity of taking time by 

1 The intendant was an officer charged with the duty of keeping watch 
on the governor's actions and enforcing a system of detailed regulations 
in the colony. Tlie office, wlien filled by a man of Talon's energy and 
ability, was second to none in importance. Talon's commission and 
instructions as intendant are printed in O'Callaghan, Neio York Colonial 
Documents, IX. 22-29. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 59 

the forelock and adopting measures whereby to thwart the 
proposed extension of the English colonies beyond the 
Alleghanies. 

In 1665 Father Claude Allouez, one of the most vigilant 
of the Jesuits in America, accompanied a party of French- 
men to the Superior region and founded the mission of the 
Holy Spirit at La Pointe.^ Rumors of the "great water" 
were soon heard from the surrounding Chippewas, and it 
was now that the name by which we know the river began 
to take form. Allouez's phonetic rendering of the name 
of the tribes said to live along the river's banks was 
" Missipi," and the stream was thus designated by him in 
his correspondence. Curiously enough, the missionary 
believed that the river flowed into the Chesapeake Bay, 
or Sea of Virginia as it was then called. On one of his 
numerous excursions about the western end of Lake Supe- 
rior, Allouez encountered a party of Sioux who said that they 
came from a region forty or fifty leagues in the direction 
of the " ^Missipi," and that beyond their country there was 
just one other people before the China Sea was reached. 

In 1669 Allouez was displaced at La Pointe by Jacques 
Marquette, a priest who the year before had established 
the first mission in what is now the state of Michigan, on 

1 The Indian name of the place was Chagwainegan, which means " on 
the long, narrow point of land." It was upon this site that Ren6 Mt^nard 
had established his unsuccessful mission five years before. See " Of the 
Mission of Pointe du Saint Esprit in the Country of the Outaouac Algon- 
quins," Thw a,ites, Jestiit Relations, LII. ]!K)-213; Allouez's description 
of Lake Superior, ,/esta'< Eplations,lLj.20^)-2i)l; Pierre Margry, Decou- 
vertes et iStabUssernents des Fra»(^ais da7is V Quest et dans le Sud de 
VAmerique Septentrioiiale, I. 59-72; and Thwaites, "The Story of La 
Pointe," in Hoio George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest, and Other 
Essays in Western History. 



60 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chai-. 

the south side of the Sault, and who was soon to be made 
famous by his explorations and adventures in the West. 
Allouez in this same year founded the mission of Francis 
Xavier among the Pottawattomies on Green Bay, having 
been induced to go there, it is said, not merely for the 
sake of ministering to the Indians, but also to exercise 
a repressive influence upon the lawless eoureurs- de-hois 
who had assembled there in considerable numbers.^ Some 
months later, in company with another missionarj', Father 
Dablon, he ascended the Fox and crossed to the head of 
the Wisconsin. But again the passage to the Mississippi 
by this inviting route failed to be completed. Allouez 
knew, as Nicolet certainly did not, that the Wisconsin 
led directly to the great river. He records, indeed, that 
it was only a six days' journey from the point he reached 
to the "Messisipi." There are some older authorities 
who avow that Allouez did reach the Mississippi ; but a 
similar claim is made by somebody for almost every mis- 
sionary and explorer in the West from Nicolet down, and 
all are alike without foundation until we come to Joliet 
and Marquette in 1673. In the Relation of 1669-1670 
we read that the " Messisipi " was more than a league 
wide, that it flowed from north to south, that the Indians 
had never descended to its mouth, and that there was still 
doubt as to whether it flowed into the Gulf of Florida or 
into that of California. ^ 

The winter of 1660-1670 Marquette spent at La Pointe. 
The Sioux Indians, by whom he was frequently visited, 
professed to live on the banks of the great river, and INIar- 
quette, who was a priest but sometliing more, was stirred 

1 Thwaites, Jesuit lielations, LIV. 305. 2 jbid., 137. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 61 

by a great ambition to journey to the river and find out 
the actual facts regarding its size, direction, and commer- 
cial value. AUouez had adopted the view that the river 
flowed into the Atlantic, but Marquette thought it flowed 
into the Pacific through the Gulf of California. "If I get 
the canoe which the Indians have promised to make me," 
he boldly declared on one occasion, " I intend with another 
Frenchman, who can speak with these lower people in their 
own tongues, to navigate this stream and come in contact 
with these lower tribes, and so decide the question of the 
ultimate direction of this great river's flow."^ A war 
between the Hurons and the Sioux, however, produced 
sucli disturbed conditions that the plan was for the time 
abandoned. 

The Jesuit Relation of 1670-1671 says that there is no 
longer doubt that the Mississippi (its modern spelling had 
now come into use) flowed either into the Vermilion Sea 
or the Gulf of Mexico, " since what is known of great 
rivers in that direction, is that they flow into one or the 
other of these seas." The Relation continues: "The 
Indians say that for more than three hundred leagues 
from its mouth it is wider than the St. Lawrence at 
Quebec, and tliat it flows througli a treeless prairie-land 
where the only fuel is turf or dried excrements. As it 
nears the sea, the woods again grow, and in this region 
the inhabitants seem like the French, have houses in the 
water, and cut trees with large knives. All along the 

1 Letter of Father James Marquette to the Father Superior of the 
missions, in Thwaites, Jesuit Belationa, \AV. 180-191. For a sketch of 
Marquette's experiences at La Pointe, see Thwaites, Father Marquette, 
Ch. VIII. 



62 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

river from the Nadouesse [Sioux] to the south there are 
many tribes of different customs and tongues, and they 
make war on each other." ^ 

The war between the Sioux and the Hurons obliged 
Marquette instead of seeking the Mississippi to follow 
his Huron proteges eastward in the year 1670. Tliereafter 
we find him at Sault Ste. Marie, and a year later at the 
Straits of Mackinaw, where he established the mission of 
St. Ignace. June 14, 1671, in the course of an imposing 
ceremony at Sault Ste. Marie, the French took formal 
possession of all territory " from the North to the South 
Sea, and westward to the ocean " — an area as utterly 
enigmatical as that specified in the " sea to sea " charters 
of the Englisli. 

The ceremony, which was under the management of 
Simon Francois Daumont, Sieur St. Lusson, as the agent 
of Talon, was one of the most notable in the history of 
the country. For months Nicholas Perrot had been work- 
ing among the tribes of the Green Bay region, inducing 
them to send representatives, and with such success that 
as many as sixteen or seventeen agreed to do so.^ The 
ceremony was preceded by several weeks of feasting, 
games, and mock fights, designed to win the sj'mpathy 
of the natives, and enlist their support in the great scheme 
which the French were preparing to execute. At length, 

1 Thwaites, Jrs7iit Tielations, LV. 207-209. 

- Tlie " Proems Verbal " of Talon mentions by name fourteen nations. 
The Hurons and Ottawas, at a later time, conferred with the French and 
assented to the arrangement. Winsor, Narrative and Critical Historij of 
America, IV. 175, note. The " Procfes Verbal " is given in the Wiscon- 
sin Ilintorical Collections, XI. 26. On Perrot's labors among the Wis- 
consin Indians, see Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVI. 32-50. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR TPIE MISSISSIPPI 68 

on the 14tli of June, in the midst of a great con- 
course of painted and gaudily dressed savages, gathered 
on the crest of a liill overlooking the rapids of the Sault, 
signatures were aftixed and marks were made to a docu- 
ment which claimed for Louis XIV. all the North Ameri- 
can continent, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and from the coast of Labrador westward to the " salt sea," 
with a fine disregard of all such trivial matters as con- 
flicting English and Spanish claims. A wooden cross 
was set up, and the Frenchmen solemnized the occasion 
by chanting a hymn in Latin. Beside the cross was erected 
a post bearing the Jleur-de-Us of France ; and as a symbol 
of the possession assumed, St. Lusson took from the ground 
a piece of sod and held it aloft toward the heavens. It 
was felt, however, as John Fiske says, that all this pageant 
would be incomplete without a speech that would stir the 
hearts of the Indians, and Father Allouez, the orator of 
the day, knew " how to tell them what they could appre- 
ciate." ^ 

Some parts of the speech are so characteristic that they 
call for quotation. AUouez's main endeavor was to 
impress his hearers with the magnitude of the French 
power, in doing which he gave the following description 
of the monarch whose ensign had just been borne aloft 
beside the cross : " He lives beyond the sea ; he is Cap- 
tain of the greatest Captains, and has not his equal in the 
world. All the Captains you have ever seen, or of whom 
you have ever heard, are mere children compared with 
him. He is like a great tree, and they, only like little 
plants that we tread under foot in walking. . . . Whoi 
^ John Fiske, Xew France and Xew England, 108. 



64 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

he says ' I am going to war,' all obey liim ; and his ten 
thousand Captains raise companies of a hundred soldiers 
each, both on sea and on land. Some embark in ships, 
one or two hundred in number, like those that you have 
seen at Quebec. Your canoes hold only four or five men 
— or at the very most, ten or twelve. Our ships in 
France hold four or five hundred, and even as many thou- 
sand. Other men make war by land, but in such vast 
numbers that, if drawn up in a double file, they would 
extend farther than from here to Mississaquenk, although 
the distance exceeds twenty leagues. When he attacks, 
he is more terrible than the thunder : the earth trembles, 
the air and the sea are set on fire by the discharge of his 
Cannon ; while he has been seen among his squadrons all 
covered with the blood of his foes, of whom he has slain 
so many with his sword that he does not count their 
scalps, but the rivers of blood which he sets flowing. So 
many prisoners of war does he lead away that he makes 
no account of them, letting them go about whither they 
will, to show that he does not fear them. No one dares 
make war upon him, all nations beyond sea having most 
submissively sued for peace. From all parts of the world 
people go to listen to his words, and to admire him, and 
he alone decides all the affairs of the world. What shall 
I say of his wealth ? You count yourselves rich when you 
have ten or twelve sacks of corn, some hatchets, glass 
beads, kettles, or other things of the sort. He has towns of 
his own more in number than you have people in all these 
countries five hundred leagues around ; while in each town 
there are warehouses containing enough hatchets to cut 
down all your forests, kettles to cook all your moose, and 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 65 

glass beads to lill all your cabins. His house is longer 
than from here to the head of the Sault [more than half 
a league], and higher than the tallest of your trees ; and 
it contains more families than the largest of your Villages 
can hold."^ For vividness and force this speech has 
few equals, at least among the efforts of sober church- 
men. 

As has been said, it was the chief ambition of the in- 
tend ant Talon to solve the problem of the river system of 
the West. Colbert at the French court was equally inter- 
ested, for a time at any rate, in this matter, and lent his 
assistance to every scheme of exploration which seemed at 
all feasible. He was especially desirous that the Missis- 
sippi be found to flow into the Gulf of California, so 
that it might constitute an outlet to the China Sea. Lest, 
however, the river should be found to flow throughout all 
its course toward the south, the Spanish government was 
given to understand that if the French flag should some 
day appear in the Gulf of Mexico it was not to be dis- 
regarded with impunity. 

In April, 1672, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, 
was appointed governor and lieutenant-general of New 
France. 2 When he arrived, in late autumn, he at once fell 
to quarrelling with Talon, and the latter was soon recalled. 
Already, however, the unfortunate official had advised the 
new governor to send Louis Joliet on an exploring expedi- 
tion toward the Mississippi, and the plan was put into 

1 Thwaites, Jpsuit lielations, LV. 109-113. 

2 Louis XIV. 's instruclions to Frontenac are in O'Callaghan, Neio Yoi'k 
Colonial DucAiments, IX. 85-89. The be.st account of Frontenac's inter- 
esting career in America is in Parkinau, Count Frontenac and New 
France under Louis XIV, 

t 



66 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

speedy execution. ^ Joliet was a man of roving disposition, 
a successful trader, and just the sort of person to undertake 
any adventurous enterprise that offered. He was a native 
of the colony, having been born at Quebec in 1645, ten 
years after the death of Champlain. He was a man of 
good education, excellent judgment, though possessed of 
the spirit of the adventurer rather than that of the student. 
In 1669 he had engaged in a search for a copper mine on 
Lake Superior, and in 1671 had been a companion of St. 
Lusson at the planting of the arms of France at Sault Ste. 
INIarie. To the home government Frontenac wrote that 
Joliet had promised to penetrate the interior of the conti- 
nent as far as the Mississippi by way of Green Bay, and 
that he would in all probability prove once for all that the 
great river flowed into the Gulf of California. 

Joliet set out on his ambitious expedition in August, 
and by December 8 had reached Mackinaw, then known 
as Michillimackinac.2 There the winter and spring were 

1 In Charlevoix, Histoire Oenerale de la Nouvelle France (tranfe. by 
J. G. Shea), III. 179, it is asserted that Talon had commissioned Mar- 
quette to undertake the exploration of the West. This is erroneous. 
Joliet was the governmental agent, Marquette a mere associate. Jared 
Sparks, liohert de la Salle, 4, and other older writers allowed themselves 
to be led astray by Charlevoix, who though always interesting was not 
always accurate. 

- On the expedition of Joliet and Marquette the following authorities 
may be cited : Parkraan, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 
Ch. v.; Thvvaites, Father Marquette; Samuel Hedges, Father Mar- 
quette; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac ; Monette, History of the Valley of 
the Mississippi ; Charlevoix, Histoire Generale de la Nouvelle France; 
Le J. P. Brucker, Jacques Marquette et la Decouverte de la Vallee du 
3Iississippi ; Alfred Hamy, Au Mississippi: La Premiere Exploration 
(1678). The leading original sources of information are: The Jesuit 
Eelatio7is; Margry, Decouveries et £tablissements des Fran(;ais dans 
V Quest et dans le Sud de V Amerique Septentrionale ; French, Historical 



HI SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 67 

spent in completing preparations. A goodly supply of 
Indian corn and smoked buffalo meat was provided for 
the trip. All possible information regarding the country 
to be traversed was obtained from the Indians and a map 
was constructed for a guide. Marquette was still in 
charge of the Jesuit mission at Mackinaw, but despite all 
the vicissitudes of his life among the fugitive Hurons, had 
never outgrown his desire to seek a field of labor even less 
promising in some respects among the Illinois who were 
known to live in close proximity to the Mississippi. The 
missionary therefore joined himself with the adventurer, 
and when on May 17, 1673, Joliet set out anew toward 
the goal of his ambition, he had as his friend and con- 
fidential companion the man whose name has ever 
since been linked with his own in the annals of western 
discovery. 

The first Indians encountered were the FoUes-Avoines, 
or the nation of the wild oats, a small tribe to whom 
Marquette was already known by reason of a previous 
visit. "I acquainted them," says Marquette in the 
account which he subsequently wrote of the expedition, 
" with my design of discovering other nations, to preach 
to them the mysteries of our lioly religion, at which they 
were much surprised, and said all they could to dissuade 
me from it. They told me I would meet Indians who 
spare no strangers, and whom they kill without any 
provocation or mercy ; that the war they have one with 
the other would expose me to be taken by their warriors, 

Collections of Louisiana and Florida ; Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley ; Le Clercq, Premier E tahl issement de la Foi dans 
la Nouvelle France ; and the Wisconsin Historical Collections. 



68 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

as they are constantly on the lookout to surprise their 
enemies. That the Great River was exceedingly danger- 
ous, and full of frightful monsters who devoured men and 
canoes together, and that the heat was so great that it 
would positively cause our death. I thanked them for 
their kind advice, but told them I Avould not follow it, as 
the salvation of a great many souls was concerned in our 
undertaking, for whom I should be glad to lose my life. 
I added that I delied their monsters, and their informa- 
tion would oblige us to keep more upon our guard to 
avoid a surprise. And having prayed with them, and 
given them some instructions, we set out for the Bay of 
Puan (Green Bay), where our missionaries had been 
successful in converting them."^ 

The party, numbering seven in all, made its way in two 
canoes into Green Bay, following the same course as had 
Nicolet nearly forty years before. Marquette tried to 
satisfy himself as to the reason for the name " Fetid " 
which these waters had long borne, but was unable to 
arrive at any more satisfactory conclusion than that it 
was " on account of the quantity of slime and mud there, 
constantly exhaling noisome vapors which cause the 
loudest and longest peals of thunder that I ever heard." ^ 
During the first week in June the Fox River was 
ascended, though not without some difficulty on account 
of the rocks and rapids in its upper waters. This brought 

1 Father James Marquette, The Discovery of Some Xeio Countries and 
Nations in North America in 1673. Translated by J. I). B. De Bow in 
French, Louisiana Historical Collections, Part II. 281. Thwaites, Jesnit 
Relations, LIX. 9.3. 

2 "Narrative of Father Marquette," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 237. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 69 

the voyagers among the Mascotins, or Fire Nation, 
where Marquette was "extremely consoled to see a 
beautiful cross planted in the midst of the town, adorned 
with several white skins, red belts, bows and arrows 
which these good people had offered to the Great 
IManitou to thank him for having liad pity on them dur- 
ing the winter."^ The sachems of the tribe were assem- 
bled, and Joliet explained his commission to discover new 
countries and jNIarquette declared his purpose to " illu- 
mine them with the light of the gospel." The Indians 
proved very hospitable, readily consenting to furnish the 
travellers with two guides to set them on their way 
toward the great water. When, however, on the 10th of 
the month the Frenchmen and these two guides embarked 
from one of the villages to continue their journey into 
parts unknown, the inhabitants of the place could not 
restrain their expressions of astonishment at the boldness 
of the travellers. Finding them determined to go in 
spite of all warnings, the natives told Joliet and Mar- 
quette that three leagues farther up the Fox they would 
come upon the head waters of a river which flowed into 
the Mississippi, and that they should follow this stream 
"west-southwest" in order to reach the desired goal.^ 
These directions brought the voyagers to the Fox- Wis- 
consin portage — a region so full of swamps and lakes 

1 French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part 11. 28;3. Thwaites, 
Jesuit Relations, LIX. 103. Nicolet had visited the Mascoutins (Masco- 
tins) in 1(534, and several missionaries, among them Marquette himself, 
had appeared in their villages from time to time thereafter. The cross 
may have been erected by Allouez and Dablon in UU57. 

2 "Narrative of Father Marquette," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 238. 



70 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

that, as Marquette says, had the guides not been familiar 
with the country the party must have become greatly 
confused. " The river upon which we rowed and had to 
carry our canoes from one to the other, looked more like 
a corn-field than a river, insomuch that we could hardly 
find its channel." The canoes had to be borne on the 
backs of the guides a distance of about two and a half 
miles over a portage which in times of flood becomes a 
stream joining the head waters of the Fox and the Wis- 
consin, and thereby connecting the St. Lawrence drainage 
system with the Mississippi. When the canoes were 
floated on the waters of the Wisconsin the guides re- 
turned to their homes (having gone as far as their knowl- 
edge extended), " leaving us alone," says Marquette, " in 
an unknown country, having nothing to rely upon but 
Divine Providence." 

" Before embarking," continues Marquette's account, 
" we all offered up prayers to the Holy Virgin, which we 
continued to do every morning, placing ourselves and 
the events of the journey under her protection, and after 
having encouraged each other, we got into our canoes." 
The trip down the river brought to view many things 
of interest to the Frenchmen — a luxuriant vegetation of 
strange trees and plants, enormous herds of buffaloes, 
and beetling bluffs affording scenery of the rarest rugged- 
ness and beauty. Navigation was not so easy, however, 
because of the number of sand-bars -and islands covered 
with grape-vines. Marquette called the stream the " Mes- 
consing," but its name was subsequently given as " Ouis- 
consin " by the explorer Hennepin, from which the 
modern name is directly derived. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 71 

June 17 the curiosity of a generation of Frenchmen 
was rewarded. On that day the little fleet of Marquette 
and Joliet, just a month after starting from Mackinaw, 
floated out upon the placid waters of the Mississippi.^ 
Despite all the contradictory views that have been set 
forth by various students of the subject at different 
times, we may regard this event as constituting quite 
certainly the real discovery of the Father of Waters by 
the French. By it the mystery of the " great water " 
was cleared up, so far at least as to show that this 
expression actually denoted a large southward flowing 
river, as the Indians had declared. The river at the 
point first viewed is walled in, as one writer has de- 
scribed it, "by picturesque bluffs, with lofty limestone 
escarpment, whose irregular outline looks like a suc- 
cession of the ruined castles and towers of the Rhine." 
By reason of its being thus comparatively narrow, the 
explorers were probably disposed to be just a bit disap- 
pointed in the "great water" until they made a sounding 
and discovered it to be nineteen fathoms deep. A few 
miles below the mouth of the Wisconsin the river widens, 
as Marquette takes care to tell us, nearly three-quarters 
of a league, and assumes the aspects more characteristic 
of it in its lower course. Joliet bestowed upon the 
stream the name La Buade, in honor of Frontenac, while 
Marquette, with true religious instinct, preferred to desig- 
nate it Conception. As yet the explorers knew almost as 

1 In his Xarrative Marquette simply says, " We safely entered Missisipi 
on tiie ITtli of June, with a Joy that I cannot express." Thwaites, Jesuit 
Itclations, LIX. 107. See J. G. Shea, '• Address on tlie Discovery of the 
Mississippi, read on the Bi-centennial of said Discovery, Juue 17, 1873," 
in Wisconsin Historicnl Culirrtions. \'III. 111-122. 



72 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

little, of course, of the real extent of the river and of the 
vast area drained by it, as had Soto and his companions 
a century and a quarter before. 

Bearing in mind that it was chiefly the direction and 
outlet of the stream that the authorities wanted to know, 
Joliet and Marquette determined to pursue their investi- 
gations exclusively toward the south. They therefore 
set out to descend the river, floating leisurely along by 
day and resting at anchor in mid-stream by night. 
Within a week they had reached a village of the Illinois 
tribe where they were well entertained, and also warned 
against demons who were said to dwell along the river 
farther south. These warnings, as the earlier ones, were 
ignored with what the Indians regarded as the most 
consummate foolhardiness, and the voyage was eagerly 
resumed. The appearance of the country traversed now 
began to change, and the adventurers were in no wise 
lacking in entertainment. " There were scarcely any 
more woods or mountains," says Marquette. " The 
islands are covered with fine trees, but we could not 
see any more roebucks, buffaloes, bustards, and swans. 
We met from time to time monstrous fish, which struck 
so violently against our canoes, that at first we took them 
to be large trees, which threatened to upset us. We saw 
also a hideous monster ; his head was like that of a tiger, 
his nose was sharp, and somewhat resembled a wildcat ; 
his beard was long, his ears stood upright, tlie color 
of his head was gray, and his neck black. He looked 
upon us for some time, but as we came near him our 
oars frightened him away. When we threw our nets into 
the water we caught an abundance of sturgeons, and 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSHTI 78 

another kind of fish like our trout, except that the 
eyes and nose are much smaller, and they have near the 
nose a bone three inches broad and a foot and a half long, 
the end of which is flat and broad, and when it leaps out 
of the water the weight of it throws it upon its back. . . . 
As we were descending the river we saw high rocks with 
hideous monsters painted on them, and upon which the 
bravest Indians dared not look. They are as large as 
a calf, with head and horns like a goat ; their eyes 
red ; beard like a tiger's, and a face like a man's. Their 
tails are so long that they pass over their heads and 
between their fore legs, under their belly, and ending 
like a fish's tail. They are painted red, green, and 
black. They are so well drawn that I cannot believe 
they were drawn by the Indians. And for what purpose 
they were made seems to me a great mystery." ^ 

The fish which so astonished the travellers was a vari- 
ety of swordfish, now quite rare. And the animal paint- 
ings on the cliffs were but expressions, familiar enough 
to-day, of the mingled religious and artistic temperaments 
of the natives. 

Some time after passing the mouth of the Illinois, the 
voyagers came upon the mouth of another great river, — 
the Pekitanoni^ as the Indians called it, or the Missouri, 
as it is known to us. Marquette says that while he and 
his companions were discoursing upon the monsters tliey 
had seen, they began to hear a great rushing and bub- 
bling of waters, and to see small islands of floating trees 
coming down the mighty tributary from the west with 

1 "Narrative of Father Marquette," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississipjn Valley, 253-254. 



74 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

such rapidity that they dare not at first trust themselves 
to go near it. The waters of the Missouri were found to 
be too muddy for drinking, and it was noted that they 
so discolored the Mississippi as greatly to enhance the 
dangers of navigation. Marquette determined at some 
future time to ascend the stream and find whither it led. 
The Indians informed him that " by ascending this river 
for five or six days, one reaches a fine prairie, twenty or 
thirty leagues long. This must be crossed in a north- 
westerly direction, and it terminates at another small 
river on which one may embark, for it is not very difficult 
to transport canoes through so fine a country as that 
prairie. This second river flows toward the southwest 
for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a lake, 
small and deep, which flows toward the west, where it 
falls into the sea." " I have hardly any doubt," concludes 
Marquette, "that it is the Vermilion Sea, and I do not 
despair of discovering it some day, if God grant me the 
grace and the health to do so, in order that I may preach 
the gospel to all the peoples of this New World who have 
so long grovelled in the darkness of infidelity, "i 

Meanwhile the voyage was continued toward the south. 
It was now dawning upon the adventurers that the Mis- 
sissippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and when they 
passed the mouth of the Ohio 2 and reached that of the 
Arkansea, or Arkansas, the fact was assured to their 
minds beyond doubt. The Indians in the Arkansas region 

1 "Narrative of Father Marquette," Shea, Discover)/ and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 249. Thwaites, Jesuit Eelations, LIX. 148. 

2 The Ohio was then known by its Indian name Oiiabotiskigon, or 
"The Beautiful." 



, III SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 75 

told them that it was but a ten days' voyage to the mouth 
I of the river, from which testimony the distance was esti- 
I mated to be considerably less than it really is — nearly 
eight hundred miles. Here the travellers began to hear 
of the Europeans to the south and southwest, and that 
farther down the river the natives had firearms brought 
in through trade with foreigners. The farther the voyage 
was continued the more numerous became the evidences 
of the proximity of the Spaniards. Joliet and Marquette 
began seriously to deliberate as to whether they should 
venture any lower. Since the latitude 33° 40' had been 
reached and the Gulf was thought to be not more than a 
two or three days' journey distant, they decided that it was 
time to turn about in their course. ^ Curiosity to behold 
the lower stretches of the river was overcome by dread of 
the long ascent on the return and also by fear of capture 
by the Spaniards. " We considered," says Marquette, 
" that the advantage of our travels would be altogether 
lost to our nation if we fell into the hands of the Span- 
iards, from whom we could expect no other treatment 
than death or slavery ; besides, we saw that we were not 
prepared to resist the Indians, the allies of the Euro- 
peans, who continually infested the lower part of this 
river." ''^ 

Having, therefore, assured themselves of the direction 

^ Father Anastasius Douay, a companion of La Salle a few years later, 
in his Narrative denies that Joliet and Marquette descended the Mis- 
sissippi below Cape St. Anthony. There was apparently no reason but 
jealousy for this assertion. See Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the 
Mississippi Valley, 222. 

^ "Narrative of Father Marquette," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 25(5. 



76 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

and outlet of the river^ — the matters which Frontenac 
was chiefly desirous of knowing — the voyagers turned 
back from the Arkansas, July 17, just a month after their 
first view of the Mississippi, and commenced the laborious 
trip up-stream. When the mouth of the Illinois was 
reached, the Indians of the neighborhood persuaded the 
Frenchmen that a quicker and easier return could be 
effected by way of that river and Lake Michigan. The 
Illinois Indians proved very hospitable and besought 
Marquette to remain among them as a religious teacher. 
For the present the condition of his health, as well as 
other considerations, forbade the priest's accepting the 
invitation, though he promised to return at some future 
time. From the Illinois the travellers passed finally into 
the Des Plaines River. An elevation about forty miles 
southwest of Chicago to which Joliet gave his own name 
is the only landmark which still preserves any of the 
many names bestowed by him and his companion during 
the course of this trip. The Chicago portage — between 
the head waters of the Chicago and Illinois rivers — was 
passed, and by the end of September the familiar Avaters 
of Green Bay were reached. The journey had covered in 
all about two thousand five hundred miles and had been 
'accomplished in almost exactly four months.^ 

1 Says Manjuette, " The Mississippi undoubtedly had its mouth in 
Florida or the Gulf of INFexico and not on the east, in Virginia, whose 
seacoast is at 34° north, which we had passed, without having as yet 
reached the sea, nor on the western side, in California, because that would 
require a west or west-southwest course, and we had always been go- 
ing south." Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 
256. 

- The following table of distances is taken from French, Historical 
Collections of Loitisiaii'i, I'art II. 207 : — 



ni SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 77 

Marquette remained at Green Bay to recover from the 
malaria contracted on the lower Mississippi, and Joliet 
pressed on to Quebec, which he reached the following 
summer. In the ascent of the St. Lawrence the box of 
papers and records which he was carrying was lost by the 
capsizing of his canoe, and Joliet himself barely escaped. 
The loss of these papers has been a serious detriment to 
the untangling of the history of the French discoveries in 
the Northwest.^ From memory their author constructed 
a map which is probably the first to mark the course of 
the Mississippi on a basis of discovery rather than mere 
conjecture. 2 While the extreme southern portion of the 
river had not actually been viewed by the explorers, their 
conclusions regarding it amounted for all practical pur- 
poses to absolute knowledge. They had at least estab- 
lished the unwelcome fact that its outlet was into the 
Gulf of ^Mexico and not into the Gulf of California — 
and hence the China Sea — as had been hoped. In view 
of the loss of Joliet's narratives it is peculiarly fortunate 
that those of Marquette have come down to us.^ They 

From Green Bay (Pnans) up Fox River to the portage, 175 mi. 

From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, 175 mi. 

From the moutli of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas, 1087 mi. 

From tlie Arkansas to the Illinois River, 547 mi. 

From the mouth of the Illinois to Chicago, .305 mi. 

From Chicago to Green Bay by the lake sliore, 260 mi. Total, 2549 mi. 

1 Joliet did what he could to repair the loss by writing out a narrative 
based on his recollections. This is to be found in two forms in Margry, 
DerouvertPS et Etahlissnnents des Franrais, I. 250-270. 

- Reproduced in Tliwaites, Jesuit Eelations, LIX. 8(), and in A. P. C. 
Griffin, The Discovei'y of the Mississippi; a Bibliographical Account, 
fronti.spiece. Cf. Marquette's map, Jesuit lielations, 108. 

3 They were sent by the author to Dablon at Quebec, who used them 
in his lielation and transmitted a copy to Paris. The original manu- 



78 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

have beien drawn upon almost exclusively for our account 
of the entire expedition. 

In 1674 Marquette, recovered in health as he thought, 
returned from Green Bay to the Illinois country to estab- 
lish the mission of the Immaculate Conception. Again 
falling sick, he was forced to suspend his labors and with- 
draw toward the north. The winter of 1674-1675 was 
spent with the Indians on or near the present site of 
Chicago. 1 The following spring he attempted further 
missionary effort in the region of Kaskaskia, but was com- 
pelled by renewed illness to return by way of the portage 
to the shore of Lake Michigan where. May 19, 1675, he 
was overtaken by death. ^ No greater grief could have 
come to the Frenchmen whose cheery companion he had 
been alike" in days of hardship and of triumph, or to the 
Indian peoples all through the district between Lakes 
Superior and Michigan and the " great water," to whom 
he had commended himself in an unusual degree as a 
friend, teacher, and devoted minister. Although but 
thirty-eight years old at the time of his death, he had 
been a priest twenty-one years, and no one had so stamped 
his personality upon the fortunes of the French nation 
and the Christian religion alike in the Northwest. In 
1677 some Ottawa Indians exhumed the body which had 

script had a long and eventful history before it came into the possession 
of Dr. Shea, who gave it its first publication in English. Appendix to 
The Discovery and Exploration of the 3Iississippi Valley. 

1 " Father Marquette at Chicago," from Marquette's Narrative and 
Dablon's Relation^ Old South Leaflets, No. XLVI. See article on "Early- 
Visitors to Chicago " in the Neio England Magazine, April, 1902, by 
Edward G. Mason, President of the Chicago Historical Society. 

- Marquette's " Precious Death in the Heart of the Forest," Thwaites, 
Jesuit Belations, LIX. 191-201. 



Ill SEARCH OF THE FRENCH FOR THE MISSISSIPPI 79 

been buried at Green Ba}', and a " melancholy procession 
of thirty canoes accompanied the remains to St. Ignace," 
where beneath the chapel of the mission they were given 
their final resting-place.^ Marquette's boundless patriotic 
and religious zeal made him little less than a martyr to 
the interests of the nation of which he was a citizen and 
of the religion to which he had consecrated his life. The 
state of Wisconsin did a fitting thing some years ago 
when it placed in the Capitol at Washington a statue of 
the faithful priest and explorer. 

For some years after the return of Joliet and Marquette 
exploration in the direction of the Mississippi languished. 
Louis XIV. had given Frontenac to understand that 
French enterprise in America might need to be directed 
toward ends other than westward discovery and that all 
projects for the opening of the Mississippi country should 
be held in abeyance. Frontenac was not so greatly 
interested in such matters, anyway, as Talon had been, 
especially after the disappointment of finding that the 
Mississippi led only into a hostile Spanish country and 
did not afford the long-desired passageway to the oceans 
bordering on the Indies. So when, a little later, Joliet 
desired to establish a trading post on the Mississippi, 

1 Thwaites, Jesuit Belations, LIX. 201-203. Shea, History of the 
Catholic Church in Colonial Days, 319. The chapel of St. Ignace was 
burned in 1705. Not until 1877 were the remains rediscovered and hon- 
ored with a monument. For an account of the finding of the chapel and 
burial-place by Mr. Patrick Murray, see Samuel Hedges, Father Marquette ; 
hin Place of Burial at St. /r/«rtce, Ch. XVI. ; George Duffield, "The 
Recent Discovery of the Long Lost (irave of Pfere Marquette," Report of 
the Pioneer Society of the State of Michirjan, 11. 134-145 ; and J. G. Shea, 
" Romance and Reality of the Death of Maniuette, and the Recent Dis- 
covery of his Remains," in the Catholic World, II. 267-281. 



80 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, hi 

he received no encouragement from the governor ; and 
from Colbert, the minister of marine, he received an 
unqualified prohibition. The king's great military proj- 
ects were now absorbing all the energies of France, war 
was threatening between the English and French colonies 
in America, and altogether the outlook for western explo- 
ration and settlement was anything but bright. 

Nevertheless, the man who was to make the Mississippi 
a French river from its source to its mouth was already 
preparing for his work, and the time of its accomplish- 
ment was not far distant. 



CHAPTER IV 

LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WEST 

I^ENE-ROBERT CAVELIER, Sieur de La Salle,i was 
-\ descended from an old and wealthy burgher family 
whose ancestral estates were in the vicinity of Rouen in 
Normandy. Not much is known regarding the early life 
of the man. We cannot even tell definitely the year of 

1 By far the best work on La Salle is Parkman, La Salle and the Dis- 
covery of the Great West. Jared Sparks's La Salle in the Library of 
American Biography, second series, L, is exceedingly readable, but not 
wholly trustworthy. Other authorities are : Winsor, Cartier to Fronte- 
nac and Narrative and Critical History of America ; Monette, History 
of the Valley of the Mississippi ; Thomas Falconer, On the Discovei'y of 
the Mississippi; William Kingsford, History of Canada ; Bancroft, His- 
tory of the United States; Gabriel Gravier, Noxivelle etude sur Cavelier de 
La Salle [Rouen, I880] ; Parkman, " Cavelier de La Salle," in the North 
American lieview, CXXV. 427-488 ; and Joseph Wallace, Illinois and 
Louisiana under the French liule. Source materials on La Salle are, Un- 
the most part, abundant. They are to be found mainly in French, His- 
torical Collections of Loxiisiana; Thwaites, Jesuit Relations; Margry, 
Decouvertes et Etablissements des Fran<^ais dans V Quest et dans le Sud 
de VAmerique Septentrionale ; J. G. Shea, Early Voyages Up and Doicn the 
Mississippi, The Discove/ry and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, and 
A Description of Louisiana by Father Louis Hennepin ; Tlie Relation of 
the Discoveries and Voyages of Cavelier de La Salle from 1679 to 1681, 
trans, by Melville B. Anderson and published by the Caxton Club of 
Chicago ; Charlevoix, Histoire Generale de la Xouvelle France ; and the 
Wisconsin Historical Collections. There is a bibliography of La Salle 
literature, by Cyrus K. Remington, published in tiie Ninth Annual 
Report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, 18!>;j. 
u 81 



82 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

his birth, though it is generally given as 1643. Father 
Hennepin, subsequently famous for his exploration of the 
upper Mississippi, informs us that ten or twelve years 
of La Salle's boyhood were s]3ent in a seminary of the 
Jesuits where he received an excellent education, accord- 
ing to the standards of the time. Having thus entered 
upon preparation for a churchly career, he had forfeited 
his share of his father's property, so that when he found 
the life of the Jesuit not to his liking and withdrew 
from the order, he was under the necessity of making his 
own way in the world. Because of the unreliableness 
of Father Hennepin's narratives several modern writers 
have been inclined to doubt La Salle's early connection 
with the Jesuits, there being little or no corroborative 
evidence. But there seems to be no good reason why in 
this case at least we may not accept the venerable priest's 
statement. Certain it is that throughout all his later 
career there was an antipathy between La Salle and the 
Jesuits which may well have been caused by the circum- 
stances under which the young man turned his back upon 
the order. This antipathy is attested by the fact that 
in all his exploring expeditions La Salle was accompanied 
by Sulpitians and not by Jesuits, and by the further fact 
that throughout the voluminous Relations of the Canadian 
Jesuits, La Salle and his achievements were treated with 
manifest contempt.^ 

Granting tliat La Salle was brought up as a Jesuit, 
it is not difficult to see why he did not remain one. His 
adventuresome disposition, love of independent action, 

1 See Jacker, " La Salle and the Jesuits," in American Catholic Quar- 
tct'hj lievieir, III. 404-426. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 83 

and impatience with all forms of control, caused him to 
chafe unbearably under the restrictions of church vows. 
He was just the sort of man to whom the free, wild life 
of the frontiersman would appeal, and it is not at all sur- 
prising that while yet a young man, perhaps not over 
twenty-three years old, he decided to cast in his fortunes 
with the settlers of the western world. This was about 
the year 1667. Probably the most immediate object in 
view was the accumulation of wealth by engaging in the 
Indian trade, although, as John Fiske reasonably supposed. 
La Salle before his coming to America may well have en- 
tertained a more or less definite purpose of participating 
in exploring enterprise. ^ At any rate, such a purpose 
must soon have been formed, for almost upon landing 
the young adventurer began the study of the Indian 
languages with a zeal which clearly bespoke an antici- 
pated need for such knowledge. From the priests of the 
Sulpitian order in New France, of whom his brother was 
one, La Salle secured the grant of a seigniory at the 
head of the rapids above Montreal. ^ The place was 
admirably located for the fur trade, and from the first 
the energetic and shrewd young seignior prospered abun- 
dantly. A palisaded village was laid out, settlers were 
attracted by grants of farm and pasture lands, and trad- 
ing excursions were made in all directions among the 

1 Fiske, Neio France and Neio England, 110. 

2 Montreal had been founded by priests of the Sulpitian order not far 
from the time when La Salle was born. The order's incorporated semi- 
nary was now the feudal lord of a large landed property in the vicinity. 
La Salle's grant was several miles from the city. The exact location of 
his homestead is in doubt. On La Salle and the Sulpitians, Parkman, 
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, Ch. IL 



84 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Indian tribes. All the while La Salle was learning les- 
sons in navigation, commerce, Indian lore, and outdoor 
science, which were to serve him well in larger under- 
takings. 

The life of the frontier seignior, however, strenuous 
enough for most men, was not so for La Salle, who was 
ever a better explorer than colonizer. His natural 
ambition, augmented by pondering the exploits of Co- 
lumbus, Soto, and Cortes, overleaped the Sulpitian set- 
tlements at Montreal and longed to express itself in 
enterprises that would startle the world. This was 
before the explorations of Joliet and Marquette, so that 
the theory that the '•' great water " led to the South Sea, 
and therefore to Cliina and the Indies, was not yet ex- 
ploded. From some Seneca Indians who visited his 
post in the winter of 1668-1669 La Salle received in- 
formation which convinced him that there was an 
almost continuous waterway westward across the con- 
tinent to the sea. The Senecas told him of a great 
river whose source was in their country (western New 
York and Pennsylvania), and which flowed to the south- 
west for such a distance that as much as eight or nine 
months would be required for a canoe to follow it to 
the sea. This rumor had a very real basis of fact, for 
the Allegheny, Ohio, and lower Mississipjji, taken to- 
gether, compose precisely such a stream as the Indians 
described. From the great length attributed to it La 
Salle conceived that it must flow into the Gulf of 
California, and hence afford the long-desired outlet to 
the South Sea and China. Even if this should fail, 
beyond the Great Lakes, he thought, there must be 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 85 

rivers leading to the China Seas, or possibly another 
series of lakes which would render communication easy 
and direct. So infatuated with this conception did he 
become that he forthwith christened his Montreal settle- 
ment La Chine, as if it were but the stepping-stone to 
the much-desired goal.^ 

With little loss of time preparations were begun for 
an expedition in the direction of the South Sea. La 
Salle proposed to cross into the land of the Senecas 
and follow the reputed watercourse until he should 
satisfy P'rench curiosity completely on the subject. 
From Courcelles, the governor of New France, residing 
at Quebec, letters patent were secured authorizing the 
holder to make discoveries in the western country, and 
commending him to the consideration of the English in 
Virginia or the Spanish in Florida or any other Chris- 
tian people that might be encountered. La Salle was 
himself quite uncertain whither his expedition might 
eventually go ; consequently in making contracts with 
those who were to accompany him he was careful to 
stipulate that his men should follow him faithfully 
either north or south. An independent expedition 
which was being planned by the Sulpitians for the 
carrying of the gospel to some Indian tribes in the 
Northwest was merged, by order of Courcelles, with that 
of La Salle — hardly an auspicious move for the suc- 
cess of either enterprise. 

1 Desire Girouard, LesAnciens Forts de La Chine et Cavelier de La Salle 
[Montreal, 1891]. It should be observed tliat some recent Canadian au- 
thorities hold that the name La Chine was applied to La Salle's Montreal 
seigniory only by scoffers after the failure of the Ohio expedition. 



86 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

July 6, 1669, La Chine was sold to aid in defraying 
the costs of the undertaking, showing that its founder 
was bent heart and soul upon the immediate execution 
of his new purpose. On the same day the start was 
made up the St. Lawrence with twenty men and seven 
canoes, and a number of Senecas for guides. ^ From the 
St. Lawrence the little flotilla passed out upon the 
broad, glassy expanse of Lake Ontario. Coasting along 
the southern shore of the lake it reached Irondequoit 
Bay, where a landing was effected just thirty-five days 
after the start from La Chine. La Salle, Galinee, and 
a few others made a twenty-mile trip inland to one of 
the principal Seneca villages, where they hoped to secure 
guides for the later stages of the exploration. Much 
difficulty was experienced in communicating with the 
Lidians, though they prepared for their visitors a great 
entertaimnent, the main feature of which was six hours 
of torturing a captive whom La Salle tried in vain to 
rescue. At length an interpreter who had served some 
recent Jesuit visitors to the place was found and the 
natives were apprised of the Frenchmen's desires. Upon 
learning that the white men proposed to descend the 
Ohio, tlie hosts became profuse in their warnings against 

1 The chief authority for the events of the expedition is the journal of 
Galinee, now preserved in a Paris library. Galinee was one of the Sulpi- 
tians with whose enterprise that of La Salle had been merged. The map 
which he made in 1670 is the earliest that survives which undertakes to 
show explicitly the region of the upper lakes. There is a copy of it in the 
library of Harvard University. See map and comment on it in Winsor, 
Cnrtier to Frontenac, 220-222. Galinge's journal is printed in Margry, 
Dpcouvertes et EtahJissements des Franrais, I. 112-106, and there are 
extracts from it in Berthold Eernow, T/te Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, 
Appendix A. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 87 

the wicked Indians who dwelt in that direction. " They 
would furnish no guides nor be in any way instrumen- 
tal in leading their beloved friends into such unseemly 
dangers."^ And that was all the satisfaction the visi- 
tors could get. Manifestly the Senecas, who were ani- 
mated by the eternal Iroquois antipathy toward the 
French, were opposed to the travellers passing through 
their country. This attitude became the more apparent 
when finally one of the Indians came forward with a 
proposal to lead the party by an entirely different route 
so that it could reach the Ohio eventually, but at a 
much lower point than had been intended. Having 
seen enough to make their blood run cold. La Salle and 
his companions were quite ready to accept this offer and 
return to their canoes on the lake shore.^ 

As the expedition continued westward past the mouth 
of the Niagara, the travellers heard the distant roar of the 
cataract, but did not turn aside to investigate the cause of 
it. Galinee's mention of it in his narrative is the earliest 
we have, except from Indian sources. At the western end 
of the lake, where they were hospitably entertained by 
the natives, they were told by a Shawnee prisoner that it 
was a six weeks' journey to the "• great water " and that 
he could easily lead them there. La Salle secured the 
captive's release and gladly accepted his services. Here, 
too, the party fell in with Joliet and his companion, Pere, 
who liad been sent out by Talon to investigate the copper 
deposits near Lake Superior and were now returning with 

^ Fiske, Neio France and New England, 112. 

2 Orsaimis II. Marshall, " Tlie Fir.st Visit of De La Salle to the Sene- 
cas, made in 10G9," in Historical Writings, 187-235. 



88 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

their report. La Salle was much interested in Joliet's 
account of his travels, but saw in it no reason for chang- 
ing his opinion that the passage for which he was search- 
ing lay farther to the south, terminating in the Vermilion 
Sea, or Gulf of California. The Sulpitian missionaries 
were more attracted by Joliet's story. When he described 
the wickedness of the Pottawattomies, they speedily came 
to the conclusion that there could be no people down the 
Ohio who stood in such immediate need of salvation. 
They therefore resolved to abandon the Ohio expedition, 
and since La Salle refused to do so, there was nothing for 
the company to do but separate. Guided by a map 
which Joliet left with them, the Sulpitians made their 
way to Sault Ste. Marie, wliere they were so coolly received 
by the Jesuits that they decided eventually to forego the 
whole enterprise and return to Montreal. It should be 
said, however, in extenuation of their faint-heartedness, 
that in a storm which broke up their boats all their sacred 
vessels and other ecclesiastical belongings were destroyed, 
so that they did not deem themselves capable thereafter 
of establishing missions. 

The subsequent course of La Salle in the Ohio expedi- 
tion cannot be definitely determined. Because of Galinee's 
withdrawal, our one reliable source of information fails at 
this point. There is a theory that he went southward 
with his surviving band of followers, discovered the Ohio 
in 1670, descended it to the Mississippi, and again in 
1671 reached the Mississippi by way of Lake Michigan, 
the Chicago portage, and the Illinois.^ This sweeping 

1 This view is upheld in the " Histoire de Monsieur La Salle," printed 
in Margry, Decoiivertes et ^tablisaements des Fran^ais, I. 103-1(30, This 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 89 

claim is but poorly supported. Practically all lirst-class 
students of the subject regard it as a mere invention, or 
at best a bad piece of bungling due to contemporary 
geographical ignorance. Owing to a total lack of trust- 
worthy evidence, this is the obscurest period in La Salle's 
life. It is all but assured, as Parkman thought, that La 
Salle did reach the Ohio at this time, and perhaps descended 
it as far as the site of Louisville, but it is far from prob- 
able that he saw the Mississippi.^ A decade and more was 
to elapse before he should sail on the broad waters of that 
stream. The real discoverer, as has already appeared, was 
not to be La Salle at all, but Marquette, together with Joliet, 
whose great work was to be accomplished four years later. 
Without speculating any further on a matter which, 
after all has been said, is just as uncertain as before, we 
may conclude that except for the increased knowledge 
and experience which it brought its leader, this first 
expedition of La Salle was an almost unqualified failure. 
We know that it was so regarded by his contemporaries, 
and that the name La Chine now came to be employed 
derisively by those who had had no faith in the enter- 
prise from its beginning.^ For the first time, but not the 

work contains what purports to be some recorded conversations of La Salle 
at Paris, in 1678, concerning the latter part of the Ohio expedition. Cir- 
cumstances surrounding the paper, however, are so suspicious that it can 
be given but very slight credence. See the excellent discussions of the 
whole subject in Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 222-228, and Parkman, 
La Sallp, 21-27. 

1 Charles Whittlesey, " Discovery of the Ohio Kiver by Robert Cave- 
lier de La Salle, 1608-1070," in Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Ilis- 
toricMl Society Tracts, No. ;>7 ; Kingsford, History of Canada, L 406-409 ; 
and C. W. Butterfield, "History of Ohio," in the Magazine of Western 
History, IIL 695-708. 

2 "In these later days, this name of ridicule has been made good by 



90 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

last, the intrepid adventurer was baffled. His Montreal 
seigniory was gone and he had nothing to show for it. 
However, a new field was being opened for his genius, 
and La Salle knew no such thing as despair. 

In 1672, by order of Count Frontenac, successor of 
Courcelles in the governorship of New France, a fort of 
earth and palisade of wood was built at the eastern end 
of Lake Ontario, near the site of the present town of 
Kingston, as a stronghold against the hostile Iroquois. 
The fort was known at first as Cataraqui, but subse- 
quently as Frontenac. La Salle, ever alive to strategic 
advantages, perceived the importance of the place both as 
a trading post and as a base of operations in the work of 
western discovery. Accordingly he set about securing 
control of the fort. After winning the favor of Frontenac 
he went to France, in 1674, and made his request of 
Louis XIV. and Colbert so effectively that letters patent 
were issued granting the government and property of 
Fort Frontenac with the seigniory of a tract of land 
around it, on condition that the holder rebuild the fort 
with stone, maintain a garrison there at his own expense, 
and clear certain portions of the neighboring territory. 
A title of nobility was also conferred by the king.^ 

The next two years were spent by La Salle at Fort 

the passage across La Salle's old possessions of the Canadian Pacific "Rail- 
way, England's new way to China." — Moore, The Northwest under Three 
Flags, 29. 

1 La Salle's petition for the control of Fort Frontenac is printed in 
O'Callaghan, Xeic York Colonial Documents, IX. 122, The terms of the 
grant are given in Margry, " Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," in Decou- 
vertes et Etahlissements des Fran(;ais^ II. 10-12, and in the Neio York 
Colonial Documents, IX. 123-126. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 91 

Frontenac. The fort was reconstructed, forests were 
cleared away, fields were planted, a school was established 
Ly the Recollect missionaries, and ships were built with 
which to navigate the lake in the pursuit of trade. Yet 
La Salle was no more satisfied than he had been with tlie 
life at La Chine six or seven years before. INIarquette 
and Joliet had in the meantime actually discovered the 
Mississippi, and the guardian of Fort Frontenac was 
fired with a new ambition to carry on the work they had 
so auspiciously begun. His dreams embraced not only 
exploration, but also the founding of colonies and the 
extension of the French domain throughout the West. 
" Nor were his visions of China and Japan grown dim or 
less attractive. He still hoped to find a passage to those 
distant countries from the head waters of the Mississippi. 
His achievements at Fort Frontenac were only prepara- 
tory to the grand enterprise upon which he had so long 
set his heart." 

In 1677 La Salle was again in France. This time he 
had a different sort of request to make of the king. 
What he wanted now was not a grant of land, but 
authority to explore the Mississippi country and open 
up new trade routes to the West. It having been all but 
proved by the voyage of Marquette and Joliet that the 
Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, La Salle now 
proposed to follow the stream to its mouth and find 
whether it might not be more practicable to maintain com- 
merce with the interior by means of the Mississippi than 
by the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. He showed 
that the staples of trade in this region — such as furs, 
wool, and buffalo hides — were bulky, and tlieir carriage 



92 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

would be greatly facilitated if an all-water route could be 
found. He asked for the right to establish posts toward 
the south and west for a period of five years, and offered 
himself to bear all the expenses of the work.i 

La Salle's plans were really as far-sighted as they were 
ambitious. It was his idea that France should no longer 
delay in assuming possession of the Mississippi Valley as 
against the counter claims of both the English and the 
Spanish. He would therefore establish military stations 
all along the river, and an especially strong one near the 
mouth. He would see to it that the Indians of all this 
vast region were swayed by French policies, and that the 
commerce of the interior should be developed as rapidly 
as possible to insure speedier settlement. This was 
indeed the very line of action ■ — especially as to the posts 
and relations with the Indians — which France sub- 
sequently adopted in her great contest with the English 
for the possession of the Middle West. It is greatly to 
La Salle's credit that he was among the first to perceive 
tliat in such action lay the only hope of the French to 
make good their inchoate claims to the valley of the 
F'ather of Waters. As history proved, the undertaking 
was too vast to be accomplished by the small population 
and limited resources of the French in America ; but if 
the attempt was to be made at all, the plan outlined by 
La Salle was certainly the best one available. 

Such an opportunity as that afforded by La Salle's 
project for the extension of French dominion and prestige 

1 " Memoir of Robert Cavelier de La Salle on the Necessity of Fitting 
out an Expedition to take Possession of Louisiana," in French, Historical 
Collections of Lordsiana, I. 25-34. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WE«T 1)3 

in tlie New World was not to be treated lightly. Louis 
XlV.'s ministers were enthusiastic in support of the 
scheme. Accordingly, May 12, 1678, new letters pateijt 
were granted by the king.^ In these it was stated that 
because of gratitude for the grantee's faithful execution 
of the agreement of three years before, and because " there 
is nothing we have more at heart than the discovery of 
this country," full permission was granted " to endeavor 
to discover the western part of our country of New France, 
and, for the execution of this enterprise, to construct 
forts whenever you shall deem it necessary." It was un- 
derstood that the work was to be done within five years. 

In August, 1678, La Salle sailed from Rochelle. While 
in Paris he had been joined by a remarkable man who was 
ever after to be his most faithful companion and lieutenant. 
This was Henri Tonty, the son of a refugee Italian living 
in Paris whose name is kept alive by the tontine form of 
insurance. Tonty had seen several years of service in the 
French army, and was a man of scarcely less energy, 
courage, and resolution than La Salle himself. ^ In his 
youth he had one of his arms shot off in battle. The 
missing member was replaced with one of iron, over which 
a glove was always worn. Before Tonty had long been in 

1 The letters patent are given in translation in the Appendix to Sparks's 
"La Salle," American Biography, I. 181-183; also in O'Callaghan, Xevj 
York Colonial Documents, IX. 127, and in French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, I. 35-36. For an excellent account of La Salle's " Grand 
Enterprise," see Parkman, La Salle, Ch. VIII. ; and for his westerii 
explorations in general, Kiiigsford, History of Canada, I. Chs. IX. and 
X., II. Chs. VI. and VII. 

2 On the career of Tonty, see Henry E. Legler, Chevalier Henry de 
Tonty; his Exploits in the Valley of the 3[ississippi, I'arkman Club 
Publications, No. 3 [Milwaukee, 181)()]. 



94 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

i\.merica this peculiarity became known to the Indians 
who universally referred to him as "Iron Hand." On the 
return from France a large quantity of supplies was 
brought out — anchors, cordage, sails, and other materials 
for the construction of vessels for lake navigation. 
Several pilots, mariners, and ship-carpenters were also 
brought over. Quebec was reached in September, and 
without loss of time the journey was completed to Fort 
Frontenac, where the ensuing weeks were to be spent in 
making preparations for the anticipated expedition of the 
following year.i 

Preparations were also to be made at the same time 
farther west. November 18 Tonty, with a party of work- 
men, sailed in a brigantine of ten tons to the vicinity of 
Niagara, having as one object the establishing of a fort at 
the mouth of the Niagara River, and as another the con- 
struction of a vessel in the waters above the falls in 
which the party might travel upon Lake Erie the fol- 
lowing spring. An attempt was made by these fore- 
runners to secure the good-will of the neighboring 
Senecas, but with only indifferent success. Besides 
Tonty there was another member of this advance guard 
who was to become famous in the annals of western dis- 
covery. This was the Flemish friar Louis Hennepin, 
a man possessing many admirable qualities, but bearing 
in these latter days a reputation much tarnished by his 
notorious mendacity. We shall have more to say con- 

1 " Narrative of the First Attempt by M. Cavelier de La Salle to explore 
the Mississippi." Drawn up from the manuscripts of Father Zenobius 
Membr^, a Recollect, by Father Crfetien Le Clercq. Translated in Shea, 
Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 89 et seq. 



U 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 95 

cerning him in a later chapter ; for the present it is 
important merely to note that Hennepin was probably 
the first European to behold America's greatest natural 
wonder — Niagara Falls. Certainly he was the first to 
make a sketch of them for publication. ^ In his Descrip- 
tion de la Louisiane, published at Paris in 1683, he made 
mention of the falls as follows : " Four leagues from 
Lake Frontenac [Ontario] there is an incredible cataract 
or waterfall, which has no equal. The Niagara River 
near this place is only the eighth of a league wide, but it 
is very deep in places, and so rapid above the great fall 
that it hurries down all the animals which try to cross it, 
without a single one being able to withstand its current. 
They plunge down a height of more than five hundred 
feet, and its fall is composed of two sheets of water and 
a cascade, with an island sloping down. In the middle 
these waters foam and boil in a fearful manner. They 
thunder continually, and when the wind blows in a 
southerly direction, the noise which they make is heard 
for from more than fifteen leagues." ^ 

Meanwhile La Salle had left Fort Frontenac and was 
cruising along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. He 
thus encountered the Senecas before joining his own 
men, and succeeded better than had Tonty in explaining 
to their satisfaction his purposes in exploring the West. 

1 The sketch was published at Utrecht in 1097 in N'onvelle Decoiiverte 
(fun tres grand Pays^ situe dans VAinerique, an account of Hennepin's 
travels in America. It is reproduced in Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 
261 ; also in the Narrative and Critical History of America, IV. 248. 
It is extremely important as a basis for comparing the contour of the falls 
to-day with that of two and a quarter centuries ago. 

2 Shea, A Description of Louisiana laj Father Louis Hennepin, 71-72. 



96 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

January 20 he was with his outpost at Niagara, having 
brought with him the remaining materials necessary to 
the construction of the new ship. Iii or near the mouth 
of Cayuga Creek a shipyard was improvised, and thither, 
a distance of twelve miles, the lumber, anchors, and 
masts were transported by land.^ Leaving Tonty to 
oversee the work, La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac by 
a perilous overland trip, only to find himself attacked 
by his creditors and other enemies of his enterprise. 

By May the new vessel was ready to be launched. She 
was of fifty tons burden and carried five guns. Since she 
bore at her prow a grotesque griffon, representing an 
attempt to imitate the family arms of Count Frontenac, 
she retained the name G-riffon which the builders had 
bestowed upon her. During the summer the work of 
fitting continued until early in August, when all was 
in readiness for the departure of the expedition. On the 
7th of the month, amid a discharge of guns, and with 
the crew chanting the Te Deum, La Salle started for — he 
knew not what, except that the most easy passage into 
the Mississippi was the main object of desire. ^ By the 
23rd the waters of Lake Huron had been entered. 
After weathering a storm which called out many a vow 
to St. Anthony of Padua, the little vessel was anchored 

^ Mr. 0. H. Marshall of Buffalo, whose name is connected with many 
studies in the history of the Niagara region, was the first to point out this 
spot as corresponding best to the contemporary descriptions. The exact 
place of the shipyard is in some doubt, but the general location is quite 
certain. Mr. Marshall's llie Building and Voyage of the Griffon is printed 
as Number I. of the publications of the Buffalo Historical Society ; also 
in his Historical Writings, 73-121. Another treatise on the subject is 
Cyrus K. Remington, The Ship-xjard of the Griffon [Buffalo, 1891]. 

2 Shea, A Description of Louisiana by Father Louis Hennepin, 90. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 97 

four days later in the harbor at St. Ignace, in the straits 
of Mackinaw, where there was already a French mission. 
In a few days La Salle proceeded to Green Bay, where 
some of the men sent ahead had collected a goodly store 
of furs. With these the Crriffon was loaded, and on 
the 18th of September the ship was started back to 
Frontenac with her valuable cargo. It was hoped by 
La Sal]^ that the revenue from these furs would appease 
his hungry creditors and keep them from seizing his 
property on the St. Lawrence during his absence. The 
sending of them, however, was a violation of his patent ; 
for by the terms of this instrument he was in no case to 
divert Indian traffic from Montreal.^ 

As soon as the G-riffoii was well under way La Salle and 
his men started in bark canoes for the southern end of 
Lake Michigan. The objective point was the mouth of 
the St. Joseph River — then known as the Miami. Tonty 
was to advance directly thither along the eastern shore 
of the lake, while La Salle himself was to traverse the 
western and southern coasts. It was expected that by 
the time the party was ready to cross to the Kankakee 
and thence to the Illinois, the Griffon would have returned 
with fresh supplies and articles for trade. La Salle's trip 
along the Wisconsin shore of the lake was accomplished 
with extreme difficulty, owing to the heavy cargoes of his 
canoes and the scarcity of food, so that it was not until 
November 1, 1679, that the mouth of the St. Joseph was 
reached. Tonty encountered difficulties almost as great, 
and did not arrive until three weeks later than La Salle. 
Much to the latter's disappointment, Tonty brought no 

1 French, HUtori.cal Collections of Louisiana, L 25. 
II 



98 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

news of the Grriffon. Two men were at once despatched 
to Mackinaw to guide the expected vessel, on her return 
from Niagara, to the fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph. 

As a matter of fact the ill-fated ship was never to be 
heard of again. What became of her cannot be definitely 
known. Soon after her start from Green Bay to Mackinaw 
a gale swept the northern part of the lake, and even then 
La Salle was led to fear greatly for her safety. Ptobably 
under the weight of her cargo she foundered and none 
of her crew survived. ^ At any rate she never reached 
Mackinaw. In later times La Salle professed to believe 
that the pilot of the vessel had played false and had 
carried her out of her course with the intention of selling 
her to the English. We have no reason other than 
La Salle's suspicion, however, for thinking that such 
was the case. 

December 3 La Salle, with eight canoes and thirty- 
three men, struck off into the interior, following the 
course of the St. Joseph into northern Indiana.^ A port- 
age of five miles, discovered only after much search, 
enabled the party to embark on the upper Kankakee. 
The three-hundred-mile voyage down this river was un- 
marked by important incidents, although the travellers 
were several times threatened with starvation, due to 
the scarcity of buffalo and other game in the winter 
season. Passing out of the Kankakee, the voyagers con- 
tinued their journey on the broader waters of the Illinois. 

1 Certainly the crew did not contain half La Salle's party, as John 
Fiske would have us believe. Ncno France and New England., 126. 
Winsor says there were seven men on board. Cartier to Frontenac, 263. 

2 Bartlett and Lyon, La Salle in the Valley of the St. Joseph [South 
Bend, 1899 J. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 99 

Diligent rummaging in a deserted village of the Ottawas 
brought to light a large store of buried corn, from which 
La Salle felt constrained to " borrow " about fifty bushels 
as a relief from animal diet. Fortunately, when the 
owners were encountered a few days later, he was able to 
make satisfactory explanations. 

Meanwhile trouble was brewing. In the first place, the 
Illinois Indians were far from enthusiastic in their recep- 
tion of the Frenchmen. 1 La Salle endeavored to impress 
them with the benefits which would come to them by 
reason of the present expedition, such as better trading 
facilities, and an opportunity to learn of the true God ; 
but the wily natives were far from being convinced. 
Their attitude was generally that of sullen and ill-con- 
cealed suspicion. Despite La Salle's protestations to the 
contrary, they persisted in believing that in some way 
the coming of the French was connected with the much- 
dreaded renewal of the Iroquois invasion of the West. 
]\Ioreover, La Salle's own men were showing unmistak- 
able signs of disaffection. The mystery of the Griffon^ the 
hardships of the expedition, and the threatening manner 
of the hidians, worked together to discourage and even 
frighten all except the most daring. Six of them de- 
serted at once, including two carpenters on whom much 
depended. 

To make matters worse, Nikanape, brother of the great 
chief of the Illinois, and a man of nnich influence in the 
Peoria region, made a long speech at a banquet served to 
the Frenchmen in his own home, in which he set forth 

1 Margry, " Lettres tie Cavelier de La Salle," Decouvertes et Etablisse- 
mciitu lies Franrais, IL 32-50. 

LoFC. 



100 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 



with terrifying eloquence tlie perils to be anticipated by the 
voyager on the Mississippi./ Many other adventurers, he 
said, had met their end in the attempt to reach the mouth 
of the " great water." The banks were inhabited by a 
strong and fearless race of men who delighted in putting 
to death every stranger who came among them. The 
waters swarmed with crocodiles, serpents, and all manner 
of terrible monsters. No boat but the very largest and 
strongest could pass in safety the many rapids and falls in 
the river. And even if these dangers could be survived, 
there was no possible escape from destruction in the great 
whirlpool at the mouth of the river, to which the rapidly 
accelerated current inevitably bore the luckless adven- 
turer.y La Salle argued as best he could against the 
verity of these reports, and quoted other Indian inform- 
ants to the contrary of Nikanape's statements, but the 
mischief was done. The crafty host had succeeded only 
too well in frightening the prospective travellers to the 
Gulf. 

Knowing that idleness bred discontent, the dauntless 
leader set his disaffected followers to work at the con- 
struction of a fort near the present site of Peoria. The 
name given the place was Crevecoeur, " Broken Heart," 
— whether as an expression of disappointment, or merely 
in honor of Louis XIV.'s capture of a fort by that name 
in the Netherlands in 1672, cannot be determined. ^ The 

1 Shea, A Description of Louisiana by Father Lotiis Hennepin^ 167. 

- Jared Sparks, in his Life of La Salle, says tlie name was given as 
"a memorial of the sadness he [La Salle] felt at the loss of his vessel." 
American Biography, I. l^Q. This view is borne out by Father Cr^tien 
Le Clercq's narrative, which says that La Salle called the fort Crevecoeur 
"on account of the many disappointments he had experienced, but which 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 101 

building of a vessel of forty tons for the navigation of 
the lower Illinois and the Mississippi was also begun. 
Despite the defection of tlie carpenters, the work was 
pushed so rapidly that in six weeks' time the fort was 
complete and the ship ready for the masts and rigging. 
The fears of the men were somewhat allayed by La Salle's 
wringing from a young Illinois the truth about the lower 
]\Iississippi. Possessed of such information, the tactful 
French leader was thereafter able to contradict success- 
fully the flagrant and purposeful misrepresentations of 
the jealous natives. 

Although La Salle was bent personally upon following 
the Mississippi to the Gulf, he determined to send out a 
side expedition to explore the upper course of the great 
river. One of the men, by the name of Michel Accau, 
was put in command of this expedition, and the priest 
Hennepin and another man, Picard du Gay, were de- 
tailed to accompany him. On the 29th of February, 
1G80, the little party dropped down the Illinois, and 
began its long and eventful journey. The recital of its 
achievements must be reserved for another chapter. 

A few days later La Salle, with five companions and two 
canoes, started on a return trip to Fort Frontenac. Creve- 
coeur and its little garrison were left under the command 
of the faithful Tonty. La Salle wished, before going 
further with his undertaking, to set his affairs in better 

never shook his firm resolve." Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the 
Mississippi Valley, 96. On the other hand, in editing this narrative, 
Shea doubted if '• any but a foolisli leader could have so clearly empha- 
sized his misfortunes, when his querulous adherents needed so much to 
be inspirited." See Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 26G, and Tarkman, 
La Sallf, Ch. XIII. 



102 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI . chap. 

order at Frontenac ; and besides, he must have anchors 
and other equipment for the new vessel built on the Illi- 
nois. He also wished to clear up the mystery which still 
remained regarding the fate of the Grifon. The journey 
was one of extreme difficulty, accomplished as it was in 
the treacherous weather of early spring. By the end of 
March the St. Joseph had been reached, and there the 
certain failure of the Griffon was first learned. Travers- 
ing southern Michigan to the Detroit River, and thence 
by way of Lakes Erie and Ontario, the wearied travel- 
lers at last reached Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May. 
They had covered a thousand miles in sixty-five days. 

La Salle found his business interests in a sorry condi- 
tion. ^ Trusted agents had misappropriated his funds. A 
rumor of his death had been given credence, and a forced 
sale of his goods had been held. A vessel from France, 
carrying a cargo belonging to him and valued at $30,000 
in money of to-day, had been wrecked in the St. Law- 
rence without anything being saved. Misfortunes had 
crowded thick and fast upon every enterprise in which he 
was interested. Had not Governor Frontenac continued 
to have faith in him, he must have been compelled to 
abandon his western explorations, or at least return to 
them empty handed. As it was, after two months he 
found himself ready to set out again for Fort Creve- 
coeur. 

But now came bad news from that direction. When 
passing up the Illinois on his way to Frontenac, La Salle 
had observed the strategic point known as Starved Rock, 

1 Margry, " Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," Decouvertes et Etablisse- 
ments des Franrais, II. 167. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 103 

and had sent back an order to Tonty to use part of his 
men in fortifying it. The order had been executed, and 
Tonty himself had taken up his abode at the new fort. 
But very soon the men left at Crevecceur, freed from re- 
straint, decided that they had had enough of frontier life, 
mutinied, and destroyed the stockade. This disaster was 
followed by an invasion of the Illinois country by the Iro- 
quois, and it was only by the most remarkable self-posses- 
sion and effrontery that Tonty and his five companions at 
the so-called " Rock Fort" came through the conflict alive. ^ 
They saw that to remain on the Illinois was folly, so, 
embarking in canoes, they made their way as speedily as 
possible to Lake Michigan, whose shores they followed 
northward from the Chicago portage until at last, 
famished, exhausted, and ill, they were given a hos- 
pitable reception in a Pottawattomie village near Green 
Bay.2 

Only the news of the revolt at Crevecceur had reached 
La Salle at Frontenac. The Iroquois invasion occurred 
after Tonty's messengers had left the Illinois country. So 
that at the very time that Tonty was on the west bank of 
Lake Michigan, hastening northward (November and De- 
cember, 1680), La Salle was on the east bank,' supposing 
him still to be at Starved Rock and pressing on to his 
relief. La Salle's return had been by way of Mackinaw, 
the St. Joseph, the Kankakee, and the Illinois. From the 

^ On Tonty and the Iroquois, Parkman, La Salle, Ch. XVI. 

2 Father Zenobius Membr^, " Narrative of the Adventures of La Salle's 
Party at Fort Crevecceur, in Illinois," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 147 et seq. A. A. Graham, "The Story of 
Starved Rock on the Illinois," in the Magazine of Western History, I. 
213-230. 



104 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

St. Joseph he was accompanied by only five Frenchmen 
and an Indian. Starved Roclc was found inexplicably 
unoccupied. A little farther on the Illiiiois country was 
reached — now a horrible scene of desolation, such as the 
Iroquois were only too generally accustomed to leave be- 
hind them on their expeditions of conquest. Crevecoeur 
was in ruins, though the hull of the vessel built the year 
before was still on the stocks. The loss of his outposts on 
the Illinois must have seemed to La Salle an all but over- 
whelming climax to the long series of reverses he had 
encountered in the last twelvemonth. 

Meeting with no opposition, seeing, indeed, scarcely a 
human being, the little band continued to descend the 
Illinois, until, in the early days of December, 1680, La 
Salle was rewarded by his first glimpse of the Father of 
Waters.^ This was interesting enough, but it was no dis- 
covery. With his bark canoes and his mere handful of 
men, the intended trip down the river could not yet be 
made, so there was nothing to do but turn back and renew 
the effort to secure adequate equipment for the undertak- 
ing. Lest Tonty and his men might have preceded the 
present party, a letter was tied to a tree at the junction of 
the Mississippi and Illinois. Then the lonely travellers 
began the long and toilsome return voyage. 

The winter of 1680-1681 was spent by La Salle in the 
Miami country, southeast of Lake Michigan. No one 
knew better than he that precious time was being lost, but 
there seemed to be no other way for it. " I am disgusted 

1 "Relation du Voyage de Cavelier de La Salle du 22 AoGt, 1680, k 
I'Automne de 1681," in Margry, " Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," Decou- 
vertes et Etablissements des Fran^ais, II. 115-135. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 105 

at being always compelled to make excuses," he wrote to 
a friend, " but I hope you Avill get other information of 
how things are going on here, beside what the Jesuits give 
you." In March, 1681, he again went westward into the 
Illinois country, in the hope of bringing about a league of 
the Illinois with the Miamis against the Iroquois. It was 
while on this trip that he received the very welcome intel- 
ligence from a band of Foxes that Tonty was among the 
Pottawattomies at ^lackinaw. Hastening northward, he 
found his long-lost lieutenant, as the Foxes had said he 
would, and in June the two set out on a thousand-mile 
canoe trip to Frontenac. 

After two months' work at repairing his credit and 
securing supplies. La Salle started anew upon the execu- 
tion of his cherished scheme of descending the Mississippi 
to the Gulf. Twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty-one 
New England Indians (Mohegans and Abenakis) accom- 
panied him, and many recruits were gathered on the way. 
November 3 the party was at Fort Miami at the St. Jo- 
seph's mouth. The Indians had insisted on taking their 
women with them, and there were ten of these and also 
tiiree cliildren. It is uncertain whether they went with 
the expedition all the way to the Gulf. 

On the 21st of December the party left Fort Miami 
in two divisions. One led by Tonty and the Recol- 
lect missionary Zenobius Membre, from whose narrative 
most of our information regarding the expedition is 
drawn, sailed around the head of Lake Michigan to the 
" divine river," called by the Indians Checwjou [Chicago]. 
The other, led by La Salle himself, went by land to the 
same point, arriving eaily in January. Dragging their 



106 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

canoes and supplies on sledges, the travellers ascended the 
frozen Chicago, crossed the portage to the Illinois, and 
finally made their way to the site of Creveco^ur. Below 
this point the river was open so that the canoes could be 
launched. On the 6th of February the voyagers found 
themselves floating on the waters of the Mississippi. 
After a delay of a week, caused by the dangerous ice- 
floes borne down from above, a start was made down 
the river. 1 

In a short time the mouth of the Missouri was reached. ^ 
The travellers were amazed, as Joliet and Marquette had 
been, at the volume of muddy water poured by that 
stream into the Mississippi. Membre says in his account 
that the quantity of sediment brought in by the Missouri 
was such that the waters of the larger stream were never 
clear thereafter to the Gulf, " although seven other rivers 
of clear water were discharged into it." The Indians 
assured La Salle that by ascending the Missouri ten or 
twelve days a lofty range of mountains would be reached, 
from whose crests great ships were to be descried on the 
distant sea. About the middle of February the mouth of 
the Ohio was passed, but, as Justin Winsor has pointed 
out. La Salle does not seem to have recognized the stream 

1 Father Zenobius Membre, "Narrative of La Salle's Voyage down 
the Mississippi," Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi 
Valley, 166. La Salle's own account of the descent of the river is in 
Margry, " Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," Decouvertes et Etablisse- 
ments cle.s Franrais, II. 164-203. Another account is in the Memoir of Sieur 
de Tonty, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, I. 52 et seq. 

2 At this point La Salle wrote a letter — to whom is not known — 
describing the journey to the Missouri. It is printed in Margry, II. 
164-180, and in translation in the Magazine of American History, II. 
61D-623. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 107 

as one he had seen before.^ If he had ever been on the 
Ohio at all, it must have been in the region of eastern 
Kentucky, and likely enough he tliought the river flowed 
thence southward directly to the Gulf. 

The Indians along the Mississippi's course were not 
numerous and were generally quite hospitable. La Salle 
always used extreme caution, and several times averted 
probable trouble by simply allowing the natives to see 
that he was prepared for resistance. Food was abundant 
and easily obtained in exchange for trinkets which tUe 
Frenchmen had been careful to bring from Montreal and 
Frontenac, and there were enough new plants and animals 
to be seen and strange Indian customs to be observed to 
relieve the journey of monotony. 

On the 14th of March, when the voyagers were in 
the Arkansas region, a landing was effected for the pur- 
pose of taking possession of the country in the king's 
name. 2 A cross was planted, together with the royal 
arms, and to the curious crowd of natives whom the com- 
ing of the strangers attracted, Father Membre managed 
to communicate a few of the cardinal facts of the 
Christian religion, though he had to depend wdioUy on 
improvised signs. "I took occasion," he writes, "to ex- 
plain something of the truth of God, and the mysteries 
of our redemption, of which they saw the arms. During 
this time they showed that they relished what I said, by 
raising their eyes to heaven and kneeling as if to adore. 
We also saw them rub their hands over their bodies after 

1 Winsor, Cartier to Froiitpnac, 29L 

2 Margry, " Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," Dccoxivertes et Etablisse- 
ments des Franrais^ II. 181-185, 



108 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

rubbing them over the cross. In fact, on our return from 
the sea, we found that they had surrounded the cross with 
a palisade." 1 

A week later, after travelling three hundred miles far- 
ther, the Frenchmen found themselves among the Taensas, 
who dwelt " around a little lake formed in the land by the 
river Mississippi." Tonty was sent to the chiefs village 
with presents and offers of peace. Not only were these 
thankfully accepted, but the chief insisted on making a 
visit to La Salle. " Two hours before the time," says 
Membre, " a master of ceremonies came, followed by six 
men. He made them clear the way he [the chief] was to 
pass, prepare a place, and cover it with a delicately worked 
cane mat. The chief, who came some time after, was 
dressed in a fine white cloth, or blanket. He was pre- 
ceded by two men, carrying fans of white feathers. A 
third carried a copper plate, and a round one of the same 
metal, both highly polished. He maintained a very grave 
demeanor during the visit, which was, however, full of 
confidence and marks of friendship. "^ Such regal dignity 
on the part of a chieftain of eight miserable mud villages 
must have seemed ludicrous to the Frenchmen, but con- 
sideration for their own safety doubtless enabled them 
fairly well to maintain their composure during the ordeal. 

Membre's description of the lower Mississippi country 
is genuinely interesting and in the main quite true to 
fact. /" When you are twenty or thirty leagues," he 
says/" below the Maroa [midwa}'" between the mouths 

1 "Nai-rative of Father Meinbr^," Shea, Dhcovenj and Exploration oj 
the Mississippi Valley, 170. 

2 "Narrative of Father Membrd," Shea, ibid., 171. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 109 

of the Illinois and the Ohio], the bunks are full of canes 
until you reach the sea, except in fifteen or twenty places 
where there are very pretty hills, and spacious, con- 
venient landing-places. The inundation does not ex- 
tend far, and behind these drowned lands you see the 
finest country in the world. Our hunters, French and 
Indian, were delighted with it. For an extent of at 
least two hundred leagues in length, and as much in 
breadth, as we were told, there are vast fields of excel- 
lent land, diversified here and there with pleasing hills, 
lofty woods, groves through which you might ride on 
horseback, so clear and unobstructed are the paths. 
These little forests also line the rivers which intersect 
the country in various places, and which abound in fish. 
The crocodiles are dangerous here, so much so that in 
some parts no one would venture to expose himself, or 
even put his hand out of his canoe. . . . You meet 
prairies everywhere ; sometimes of fifteen or twenty 
leagues front, and three or four deep, ready to receive 
the plough. The soil excellent, capable of supporting 
great colonies. Beans grow wild, and the stalk lasts 
several years, always bearing fruit ; it is thicker than 
an arm, and runs up like ivy to the top of the highest 
trees. The peach trees are quite like those of France, 
and very good ; they are so loaded with fruit that the 
Indians have to prop up those they cultivate in their 
clearings. There are whole forests of very fine mul- 
berries, of which we ate the fruit from the month of 
May ; many plum trees and other fruit trees, some known 
and others unknown in Europe ; vines, pomegranates, and 
horse-chestnuts are common. Thoy raise three or four 



110 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

crops of corn a year. ... I saw some ripe, while more 
was sprouting. Winter was known only by the rains." i/^ 

The mouth of the Red River was reached by La Sali'e's 
party on the last day of March. April 2 the canoes were 
tired upon by the hostile Quinipissas, but without suffer- 
ing harm. Four days later a point was reached where 
the river divides into three branches, in reality its three 
main mouths. La Salle followed the western one, Tonty 
and Membre the middle one, and Dautray the eastern. 
Before many miles had been covered the , voyagers 
began to observe unmistakable evidence that the sea 
was not far distant. The water, from being entirely 
fresh, became first brackish, then quite salt. Li a few 
hours the explorers were gladdened by their first sight 
of the broad ocean. So far as we can tell, this was the 
earliest occasion on which men of French nationality 
had been permitted to look out upon the inner waters 
of the great Gulf, so long the haunt exclusively of the 
gold-seeking Spaniard. The three bands were again 
brought together, and the next two days, March 7 and 8, 
were spent in exploring the mouths of the river and 
searching for a suitable spot for the ceremony which 
was to constitute a fitting culmination to the enterprise. 

This ceremony was performed April 9, 1682. Except 
for the absence of the natives, it was not unlike that at 
Sault Ste. Marie almost eleven years before. In a dry 
place beyond the reach of inundations a column and a 
cross were set up in token of the French possession 
now established in the lower Mississippi Valley. To 

1 "Narrative of Father Menibr^," Shea, Discovery and Exploration of 
the Mississipjn Valley, 179-1H2. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 111 

the column were attached the arms of France, with the 
inscription : — 

LOUIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, R^GNE; LE 
NEUVIEME AVRIL, 1682. 

The Avhole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, 
the ExaudiaU and the Dornine salvum fac Reg em ; and 
then after a salute of guns and cries of " Vive le Roi," 
La Salle delivered a formal speech in which he christened 
the Mississippi Valley " Louisiana." ^ Possession was 
taken of all the lands drained directly by the Mississippi, 
together with all their "nations, people, provinces, cities, 
towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and 
rivers." Protest was formally entered against "all 
those who may in future undertake to invade any or 
all of these countries, people, or lands, to the prejudice 
of the right of his Majesty, acquired by the consent 
of the nations " named in the earlier parts of the ad- 
dress. After more shouts of " Vive le Roi " a leaden 
plate was buried at the foot of the tree to which the 
cross was attached, bearing on one side the French arms, 
and on the other a statement in Latin to the effect that 
La Salle, Tonty, and their companions were the first 
white men to navigate the Mississippi from the Illinois 

1 Sparks doubted whether La Salle originated the name. In his Robert 
de La Salle, he says : " It has been said that the name Louisiana was lirst 
given to the country by La Salle on the present occasion. This is possi- 
ble ; yet, as Hennepin's Description de la Louisiane was printed the 
same year, it is more probable that the name had before been used, or 
at least spoken of as appropriate. La Salle does not profe.ss, in the Proces 
Verbal, to give a new name, but seems rather to employ it as one already 
existing." American Binfjraphy, I. 104. It should be noted, however, 
that Hennepin's Lonisiane did not appear until January, 1G83. 



112 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

to the Gulf. " Whereupon the ceremony was concluded 
with cries of 'Vive le Roi.' " A full account of the 
proceedings, including a draft of La Salle's speech, was 
drawn up, certified by a notary, and signed by thirteen 
principal persons of the company. ^ 

The geographical terms employed by La Salle in his 
speech give only a very vague idea of what he really 
meant by Louisiana. Two years after this expedition, 
however, a map-maker by the name of Franquelin, who 
lived at Quebec and carefully recorded the progress of 
western discovery, marked off on his map of the Missis- 
sippi Valley the great region which was by that time 
included in the French claim. ^ On the southwest it 
extended to the Rio Grande ; on the west and northwest, 
to the Rockies ; on the north, to a rather vague water- 
shed south of the Great Lakes from central Minnesota 
to the Alleghanies ; on the east, to the latter range of 
mountains ; and on the south, to the northern limits 
of Spanish Florida and the western coasts of the Gulf. 
All in all, it was an area of hardly less than 150,000 
square miles — one of the most magnificent in resources 
in the world. 

Of course, according to the tenets of modern interna- 
tional law, such a sweeping claim would be clearly inad- 
missible. The best authorities in this field are agreed 

1 For La Salle's " Proems Verbal " of the taking possession of Louisiana, 
see French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, I. 45 ; also the Appendix 
of Sparks, American Biography, I. 194-202. 

2 The original of this map has been lost. The so-called Parkman copy 
is in the Archives of the Marine in Paris. See the reproduction in Winsor, 
Cartier to Frontenac, 294, and an account of Franquelin and his map in 
Parkman, La Salle, Appendix, p. 455. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 113 

that discovery confers no title at all, except at best an 
inchoate one, unless followed within reasonable time by 
actual settlement. 1 Two centuries ago, however, this 
principle was not so clearly established, and greed for 
territory, together with gross geographical ignorance, led 
to the setting up of absurdly extravagant claims when- 
ever a new quarter of the globe was to be possessed by 
one or more of the powers of Europe. The theory then 
proceeded upon was that the discovery of a river, and 
particularly of a river's mouth, gave a title to all the 
lands of the interior drained by that river and its tribu- 
taries. As late indeed as 1803, when the controversy 
concerning the Louisiana boundary was raging at Paris 
and ^Madrid, Monroe and Livingston, the American nego- 
tiators of the purchase, held steadfastly to the proposi- 

1 " It has now been long settled that the bare fact of discovery is an 
insufficient ground of proj^rietary right. It is only so far useful that it 
gives additional value to acts in themselves doubtful or inadequate. . . . 
An inchoate title acts as a temporary bar to occupation by another state, 
but it must either be converted into a definitive title within reasonable time 
by planting settlements or military posts, or it must at least be kept alive 
by repeated local acts showing an intention of continual claim. . . . 
AVhen territory has been duly annexed, and the fact has either been pub- 
lished or has been recorded by monuments or inscriptions on the spot, a 
good title has always been held to have been acquired as against a state 
making settlements within such time as, allowing for accidental circum- 
stances or moderate negligence, might elapse before a force or a colony 
were sent out to some part of the land intended to be occupied ; but that 
in the course of a few years the presumption of permanent intention 
afforded by such acts has died away, if they stood alone, and that more 
continuous acts or actual settlement by another power become a stronger 
root of title." Hall, International Laic [4th ed.], 106. See also Wheaton, 
International Lavi, 240 et seq. ; Pomeroy, Lectures on International Law, 
Ch. III.; and Walter B. Scaife, "The Development of International Law 
as to Newly Discovered Territory," in the Papers of the American His- 
torical Association, IV. 267-293. 



114 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

tion that " when any European nation takes possession 
of any extent of seacoast, that possession is understood 
as extending into the interior country to the sources of 
the rivers emptying within tliat coast, to all their branches 
and the country they cover." That the territory taken 
under control was already inhabited by native races was 
not considered a bar to occupation by Europeans. The 
natives were heathens, and the theory prevailed that it 
was the divine prerogative of Christian peoples to assume 
sovereignty over them and their lands. The American 
Indians were regarded as abundantly compensated by the 
opportunity tlius afforded them to acquire civilization and 
become believers in the true God. The Spanish explorers 
and colonizers invariably refused to recognize that the 
Indian had any inherent right to his land, and the French 
as a rule pursued the same course. The English govern- 
ment usually acted on this policy, though in the jjractice 
of the settlers the Indians were generally dealt with as 
owners of the soil competent to grant the tenure of it 
after a more or less improvised legal fashion.^ 

It was quite impossible that La Salle and his contempo- 
raries should have any very definite conception of the ex- 
tent of Louisiana. The head waters of the Mississippi were 
unknown, and likewise the length and direction of such 
of the more important tributaries as the Missouri, Ohio, 
Arkansas, and Red. Yet it was understood that the area 

1 On the European conceptions of Indian land tenure, see George E. 
Ellis, Bed Man and White Man in North America, Chs. IV. and VI.; 
P. A. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia, I. 493 et seq.; James Kent, 
Commentaries on American Law, III. 377-400. See especially Chief 
Justice Marshall's decision in the case of Johnson v. Mcintosh (1828), in 
Freeman Snow, Cases and Opinions on International Law, 0. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 115 

of the valley must be very great, and it was already a 
well-determined plan of the French that every square 
mile of it should be kept out of the grasp of the rival 
Englishman and Spaniard. As we shall see, it was 
because of no lack of effort on the part of La Salle that 
his people failed in this purpose. 

Lack of provisions dictated that La Salle's men sliould 
not tarry long at the Mississippi's mouth. As soon as the 
ceremony of assuming possession was completed, the home- 
ward voyage was commenced. Relations with the Indians 
on the return trip were generally quite similar to those 
sustained on the way down the river. Some tribes were 
as friendly as could be desired ; others, as the Quinipissas, 
were disposed to make trouble. There was at least one 
open combat, and a very narrow escape from another. 
When the party was within a hundred leagues of the 
Illinois its intrepid leader fell sick. Tonty was sent 
ahead to carry the news of the discovery to Mackinaw, 
while for forty days his chief lay at Fort Prudhomme,^ 
liovering between life and death. Due to the careful 
nursing of iNIembre and others the illness did not prove 
fatal, and by the end of July the patient had recovered 
sufficiently to move slowly on toward the settlements. 
At the end of September the St. Joseph River was 
reached. " He thus finished," he says in closing the re- 
port which he prepared for transmission to France, " the 
most important and difficult discovery which has ever 
been made by an}^ Frenchman, without the loss of a single 

1 A stockade on the third Chickasaw bluff, built on the downward voy- 
age, and named in honor of a member of the party wiio, after bcint; lost 
for a time in the forest, found his way back to his comrades at this point. 



116 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

man, in the same country where Jean Ponce de Leon, 
Pamphile de Narvaez, and Ferdinand de Soto, perished 
unsuccessful with more than two thousand Spaniards. No 
Spaniard ever carried through such an enterprise with so 
small a force, in the presence of so many enemies. But 
he has gained no advantage for himself. His misfortunes 
and the frequent obstacles in his way have cost him more 
than two hundred thousand livres. Still he will be happy 
if he has done anything for the advantage of France, and 
if his endeavors may win for him the protection of 
Monseigneur." 

Though suffering a weakness which did not pass away 
for four months or more. La Salle lost no time in cement- 
ing the friendship of the Miamis and Illinois with the 
French, making many long and dangerous trips in the 
furtherance of this precautionary work. Already his 
scheme for the establishing of French colonies on the 
Mississippi had taken definite shape. Wishing to make a 
speedy and correct report of his achievements to the home 
government, he despatched Father Membre to Quebec, 
where the missionary arrived just in time to take passage 
for France in the ship that carried back the retiring 
governor. Count Frontenac. The French capital was 
reached late in December. Besides the report, Membre 
carried with him La Salle's outline of a plan for coloniz- 
ing both the upper and lower Mississippi and thus prepar- 
ing to meet any subsequent aggressions of the English or 
Spanish. Already Tonty had been sent back into the 
Illinois country with a new colony. Starved Rock had 
become Fort St. Louis — the outpost of French civiliza- 
tion in the Great West and the centre of influence from 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 117 

which the surrounding Indians were to be kept on good 
terms witli the French during the interval that must 
ehapse before there could be an extensive settlement of the 
latter in the region. 

Late in the summer of 1683, leaving Tonty in charge of 
his interests in the West, La Salle journeyed to Quebeo, 
and thence took passage for France, where he arrived 
December 23. His plans for colonization were growing 
upon him to such an extent that he felt it necessary to 
enter personally upon the task of enlisting the French 
government in the enterprise. Moreover, the new gov- 
ernor, La Barre, was trying to influence the king against 
La Salle by making it appear that the latter had precipi- 
tated the recent Iroquois war and was perverting his royal 
commission for the purposes of mere trade. ^ La Salle 
wished to ward off this attack by a personal defence be- 
fore the king. He found this in no wise hard to do. 
The French monarchy was in the heyday of its successes, 
and large projects for its aggrandizement in foreign lands 
were never more favorably contemplated than now. The 
returned explorer was received with the greatest distinc- 
tion by both the king and Seignelay, son of Colbert, now 
minister of marine, and La Barre was forcefully ordered 
to cease his backbitings. 

It will be remembered that, when asking state aid in his 

^ Margry, "Lettresde Cavelierde La Salle," Decouvertes et Etablisse- 
ments des Francois, U. 337, 348 ; Parknian, La Salle, 297-305 ; Kings- 
ford, History of Canada, IL 111. The instructions issued to Le Febvre 
de La Barre as governor and lieutenant of New France were dated May 
10, 1682. They are printed in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Docu- 
ments, IX. 167-l(i8. See La Barre's charges against La Salle in the Xew 
York Colonial Documents, IX. 211. 



118 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

projects for the opening of the Mississippi on the occasion 
of his former visit to France, in 1678, one of La Salle's 
main arguments had been that trade with tlie interior 
could be carried on more expeditiously by way of the Gulf 
of Mexico and the lower Mississippi than by way of the 
Great Lakes. As the explorer's work had proceeded dur- 
ing the past five years this idea had become a much 
stronger one with him, and his plans had been enlarged 
proportionally. He had soon discerned that it was not 
enough merely to descend the great river to its mouth and 
demonstrate the ease of its navigation. If the French 
were really to profit by the discovery, settlements must be 
established, colonies planted as posts of exchange, and a 
French population developed after the nature of that in 
the Canadian country. The proximity of the Spaniards, 
both in Florida and Mexico, and the vague but persistent 
claim they maintained over the entire northern shore of 
the Gulf, likewise pointed to the wisdom of an early 
colonization of Louisiana by the French. 

When, therefore, La Salle, early in 1684, presented him- 
self at the French court, it was with a definite scheme for 
the immediate establishment of a French colony sixty 
leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi. Despite La 
Barre's strenuous efforts to bring the explorer into dis- 
credit with King Louis and his ministers, the proposed 
plan was at once adopted. The opportunity to clinch the 
French claim to the Louisiana country and at the same 
time to thwart the suspected designs of the Spaniards was 
too good to be missed. Relations between France and 
Spain at the time were mucli strained, and the colonizing 
of the lower Mississippi gave promise of some very effec- 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 119 

tive blows at the Spanish domination in southwestern 
America. According to La Salle's representations, the 
natives were incensed at Spanish insolence and were quite 
ready to welcome French settlement. Fifteen thousand 
fighting men could be counted on, it was said, from among 
the river tribes, while as many as four thousand warriors 
could easily be brought down from the Illinois country. i 
Without doubt the thirty silver mines of the Spanish in 
New Biscay could be made French property, and this 
would be but a beginning. It thus appears that La Salle's 
plans and enterprises were tinged with the same romantic 
colors that had long characterized those of the Spaniards. 

Seignelay easily won the king to a policy of generosity 
in dealing with La Salle, and, whereas only a single vessel 
had been asked with which to carry two hundred men to 
the ^Mississippi's mouth, it was determined that four ships, 
one of which (the Joly) was a frigate of thirty-six guns, 
should be employed in the enterprise. The government 
undertook to furnish munitions and supplies in whatsoever 
quantity they were needed. 2 La Salle was to be in su- 
preme command, and to him was issued a new commission, 
authorizing him to establish colonies anywhere in Louisi- 
ana, and to rule over all the vast territory from Lake 
Michigan to the bounds of Mexico. 

July 24, 1684, the expedition started. 3 La Salle's hopes 

1 Margry, "Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle," Dcconvertes et Eluhlisse- 
mentsdps Frnnrais, II. .359-369 ; Parkman, La Salle, Ch. XXIII. ; Kings- 
ford, History of Canada, II. 117-127. 

•^ Margry, ibid., .377-388. La Salle's commission is in O'Callaghan, 
New York Colonial Documents, IX. 225. 

3 Fatli6r Cr6tien Le flercq, "The Account of La Salle's Attempt td 
reach the Mississippi by Sea, and of the Establishment of a French 



120 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

were high. It seemed that after multiplied failures and 
disappointments success was about to be achieved. A 
region half as large as Europe was on the point of being 
secured for all time for the French people. In the com- 
pany being transported to the New World were the 200 
soldiers that had been asked for, and besides these about 
280 colonists, — men, women, and children, mostly picked 
up by La Salle's agents in the streets of Rochelle. It was 
intended that after the proposed settlement near the 
mouth of the river had been made, others should very 
soon be established on its banks farther toward the north. 
But again we encounter a saddening story of misfor- 
tunes, an aggregation of mistakes and disasters which 
si^eedily worked ruin to La Salle's fondest dreams. In 
the first place, the colonists were mostly vagabonds and 
beggars, quite devoid of the industry and skill so necessary 
to settlers in a wilderness country. From the narrative 
of Father Le Clercq we gather that La Salle's agents 
shared the universal delusion that any sort of people were 
good enough for colonists. After speaking of two or 

Colony in St. Louis Bay ; " Joutel, " Historical Journal of Monsieur de 
La Salle's Last Voyage to discover the River Mississippi." These are the 
most available narratives. They are printed, respectively, in Shea, Dis- 
covery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 185-196, and French, 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, I. 85-193. Other interesting docu- 
ments on the subject are in Margry, II. 392 et seq. Still another very 
important source is the Relation du voyage entrepris par feu M. Robert 
Cavelier, Sierir de La Salle, p>oiir decouvrir dans le Golfe de Mexiqxie, 
V emhoxicluire du fleuve de Slissisipi. Par son frere, M. Cavelier. This 
is a report said to have been drawn up by La Salle's brother at the 
instance of M. de Seignelay, minister of marine. It is inconiiilete, and 
hence not so satisfactory as the narratives of Joutel and Le Clercq. A 
translation of it is in J. G. Shea, Early Voyages up and down the 
Mississippi, 15-42. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE UPENIXG OF THE WEST 121 

three men of excellent character who accompanied the 
expedition, the pious father exclaims, " Would to God the 
troops and the rest of the crew had been as well chosen ! 
Those who were appointed, while M. de La Salle was at 
Paris, picked up 150 soldiers, mere wretched beggars solic- 
iting alms, many too deformed and unable to fire a mus- 
ket. The Sieur de La Salle had also given orders at 
Rochelle to engage three or four mechanics in each trade ; 
the selection was, however, so bad that when they came 
to the destination it was seen that they knew nothing at 
all."i 

jNIoreover, Beaujeu, a captain of the royal navy who had 
been pLaced in command of the Joly, despised La Salle 
because of the latter's ignorance of naval affairs, and from 
first to last there was nothing but jealousy and distrust 
between these two leaders of the expedition.^ Before the 
ocean had been crossed this same spirit came to animate 
both the crews and the soldiery. The horrors of disease 
on shipboard added to the discontent. Finally, when, on 
November 25, the three vessels which had survived an 
attack by the Spaniards left St. Domingo, a fog arose and 
separated them for several weeks. The Aimahle, with La 
Salle on board, sighted the mainland December 28, prob- 
ably in the vicinity of Atchafalaya Bay, about a hundred 
miles west of the Mississippi delta. Unfortunately La 
Salle took this bay to be that of Apalachee, which is 



* "Narrative of Father Le Clercq," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 188. 

- See the letters of Beaujeu printed iu Margry, IL 395-410, 430-453, and 
564-572 ; Parkman, La Salle, 331-340 ; Kingsford, History of Canada, 
IL 124-142. 



122 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

three hundred miles east of the Mississippi.^ He therefore 
directed the sailors to proceed westward along the shore 
in search of the great river. On they went, until by Janu- 
ary 6 they had reached an opening in the coast which 
seems to have been Galveston Bay. Fearing that Beau- 
jeu, in command of the Joly^ had passed the Aimahle, La 
Salle continued yet farther along the Texas coast, prob- 
ably as far as Matagorda Island. The surmise proved 
correct, and in a short time the missing vessel was encoun- 
tered. Then broke out a war of words between Beaujeu 
and La Salle, which, to say the least, did not improve the 
spirits of the disappointed and restless colonists. 

In despair of finding the desired location for his colony. 
La Salle determined to effect a landing, establish a settle- 
ment, and continue the search for the Mississippi at a 
later time. A camp was built and the people made as 
comfortable as possible. Still misfortunes came thick and 
fast. 2 The Aimahle foundered in plain sight of the dis- 
heartened colonists. The Indians stole and murdered 
and burned. Disease carried off the settlers at the rate 
of five or six a day. Beaujeu, sent out to explore the 



1 La Salle's mistake arose from misinformation received at St. Domingo 
to the effect that the Gulf Stream ran with incredible rapidity toward the 
Bahama Channel, so that the westward voyager would make progress 
much more slowly than was apparent. " Narrative of Father Le Clercq," 
Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 190. Park- 
man, La Salle, Ch. XXIV. 

2 Our chief source of information on the vicissitudes of La Salle's colony 
is the "Journal Historique" of Joutel, in French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, I. 85-193. Joutel was a nephew of La Salle and a member 
of the colony at Fort St. Louis. A portion of an interesting map of the 
Mississippi country prepared by him is reproduced in Winsor, Cartier 
to Frontenac, 318-319, from a copy in the Boston Public Library. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 123 

coast and ascertain the whereabouts of the Mississippi, 
continued his voyage to Mobile Ba}', and then set sail for 
France. 1 By midsummer there were only 180 souls left 
at the new southern " Fort St. Louis. "^ 

Three times during the years 1685-1687 did La Salle 
strike out into the wilderness at the head of a band of the 
hardiest survivors, in the hope that he might be able to 
reach the Mississippi and communicate with the French of 
the Great Lake region. It was only by this means that 
he could expect to secure the aid for his wretched colony 
which Beaujeu's treachery and the hostility of the Jesuits 
were withholding from it. The last of these attempts 
was made in January, 1687.^ By that time the colony 
had been reduced to forty men, women, and children, and 
was in immediate danger of annihilation from starvation, 
or the Indians, or both. During the closing days of 1686 
it was determined to divide the colonists about equally, 
and while half remained at the fort, the rest should make 
one more effort to traverse the two thousand miles that 
separated them from aid and sympathy. Twenty of the 

1 Margry. Lettres de Cavelier de La Salle, 577-588 ; Parkman, La 
Salle, 362-367 ; Joutel, "Journal Historique," in Freuch, Historical 
Collections of Louisiana, I. 110. 

2 The exact location of this Fort St. Louis is somewhat uncertain. Gen- 
eral J. S. Clark, a recent investigator of the topography of the region, 
believes that the fort was on the Garcitas River, five miles from its 
entrance into Lavaca Bay. See Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 317. 

' "Narrative of La Salle's Attempts to ascend the Mississippi in 1687, 
by Father Anastasius Douay, Recollect." Inserted by Le Clercq in his 
" Narrative," and printed in Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the 
Mississippi Valley, 197-229. Douay, of whom comparatively little is 
known, was one of the survivors of the expedition of 1687. See .Joutel's 
interesting account, in French, Historical Collections of Loriisiana, I. 
130 et seq. 



124 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

strongest survivors were selected for the trip, and five 
horses were procured from the Indians to be used as pack 
animals. Among those who were to accompany La Salle 
were his brother, John Cavelier, their two nephews, Joutel 
and Moranget, Father Anastasius Douay, the surgeon, 
Liotot, and a freebooter by the name of Duhaut. With 
proper provision for food and shelter, such a journey 
through the Southland might be accomplished to-day with 
little discomfort ; but La Salle's party had no shoes, only 
sail-cloth clothes, no boats except improvised ones of skin 
to ferry them across the swollen rivers, a food supply that 
was always uncertain and often positively inadequate, and 
no waterproof tents. There was constant danger of attack 
from the Lidians, and besides, the relations of the members 
of the party were anything but harmonious. Among other 
quarrels, that of Duhaut and Liotot with the leader's 
nephew, Moranget, seemed most threatening of disaster. 
By reason of all these deterring conditions the expedi- 
tion made very slow progress. It was nearly two months 
before the region of the Trinity was reached. By this 
time the jealousies and disappointments of the travellers 
were ready to break out in open mutiny. Angered by a 
just but hotly delivered reproof from Moranget, Duhaut 
and Liotot resolved upon the assassination of the boy. 
An Indian guide, Nika, and La Salle's servant, Saget, were 
also marked out for death. On the night of the 15th of 
March the dastardly work was done by Liotot while 
Duhaut and another confederate by the name of Heins 
kept watch. La Salle was six miles away and did not 
join the company until three days later. Father Douay 
accompanied the weary explorer on the walk back to 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 125 

camp, and has left us a record of their conversation on 
religious themes, as well as the sadness which so changed 
La Salle's demeanor from what it usually was. When 
confronted by their chief and asked concerning the where- 
abouts of his nephew, the murderers, embittered by their 
jealousies and failures, added the culmination to their 
crimes. Duhaut fired his gun, and La Salle fell. The 
great leader lingered an hour before death, during which 
Douay administered as best he could the comforts of the 
gospel. At last all was still. At the age of forty-three 
one of France's most valiant empire builders lay dead in 
the heart of the inland wilderness. ^ " Thus," says Douay, 
" died our wise commander, constant in adversity, intrepid, 
generous, engaging, dexterous, skilful, capable of every- 
thing. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce 
tempest of countless savage tribes was massacred by the 
hands of his own domestics, whom he had loaded with 
caresses. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of his 
course and labors, without having seen their success." 

The party now succumbed to the terrorizing rule of 
Duhaut. For several days the men ranged aimlessly among 
the Indians, at length falling in with some deserters from 
one of La Salle's earlier expeditions. One of these con- 

1 Joutel's account of the death of La Salle, translated- from his "Journal," 
is to be found in the Magazine of American History, II. 753, and in 
French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, I. 143. Parkman declares it 
marked by "sense, intelligence, and candor." Father Douay had an 
unequalled opportunity to know the facts. His account is reported in 
Le Clercq's " Narrative," printed in Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 197 et seq. See Benjamin Suite, " La Morte de 
Cavelier de La Salle," in Royal Society of Canada, Mhnoircs, ser. 2, 
vol. 4, sec. 1, pp. 3-31 [Ottawa, 1898] ; Parkman, La Salle, Ch. XXVII. ; 
Kingsford, Histo^-y of Canada, II. 155-159. 



126 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

spired with Heins, and in a quarrel Duhaut and Liotot 
were shot, thus paying an early penalty for the assassina- 
tion of La Salle. The little company broke in pieces. The 
lawless element, led by Heins, wandered off to live among 
the Indians, and what their after history was no one 
knows. The others — six in all — led by Joutel and 
Father Douay, pressed on toward Canada. B}^ obtaining 
horses from the natives they were able to make very 
good time.^ On the 24th of July, more than four months 
after the death of La Salle, they were overjoyed to come 
out of the wilderness upon the banks of the long-sought 
Mississippi, near the point of its junction with the Ar- 
kansas. Still more delighted were they to find there 
a cottage built on the French fashion and surmounted 
by a cross. How it happened to be there demands a 
word of explanation. 

The return of Beaujeu to Rochelle about two years 
before had first brought to France the intelligence that 
La Salle's colonizing expedition had gone astray. As soon 
as Tonty, in command at Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, 
became aware of his friend's misfortunes, he resolved upon 
a rescuing expedition to the Gulf. In February, 1686, he 
started down the river with a band of French and Indians 
to join his old commander. Of course, when the Gulf 
was reached. La Salle was nowhere to be found, as Tonty 
had no idea that the colony was at such a distance from 
the river's mouth. Returning, he left several men as an 
outpost at the mouth of the Arkansas, hoping that tliey 
Avould learn something as to the whereabouts of La Salle 

1 Joutel' s detailed narrative of the journey is in Fr.ench, Historical 
Collections of Louisiana^ I. 145-174, 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 127 

and his followers. It was two of these who now extended 
much-needed hospitality to Joutel and his companions. 

After a few days of rest and rejoicing the wanderers 
commenced the ascent of the Mississippi. The rest of the 
trip was over a route already familiar to the French, and 
was accomplished without special incident. When Tonty's 
f(jrt on the Illinois was reached, about the middle of Sep- 
tember, the commander was found to be absent on a cam- 
paign against the Senecas.^ The joy at their appearance 
was so great that the men foolishly forebore to minimize 
it by telling of La Salle's death. Ratlier they represented 
themselves as merely the forerunners of their chief, who 
might be expected to arrive in due time fresh from his suc- 
cesses in the south. Leaving this impression, the travel- 
lers continued on their way as far as the Chicago River. 
There the lake was found so rough that it was decided to 
return to Fort St. Louis [Starved Rock] to spend the win- 
ter. By the time the post was again reached Tonty had 
returned. Having begun a course of deception, there was 
nothing to do but follow it up. Tonty was therefore 
assured of La Salle's safety and given to understand that 
the great leader would certainly make his appearance the 
following spring. Before suspicions were aroused the 
falsifiers were again well on their way to Canada. Instead 
of La Salle, however, Couture — one of the Frenchmen 
stationed at the mouth of the Arkansas — came up the 
river early in 1688 and revealed the truth. The following 
December, Tonty, with eight companions, set out to 
rescue the remnant of La Salle's colony. But the loss of 

' Joutel's narrative, in French, Hii^torical Collections of Lonisiana., I. 
18:i. 



128 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

several of his men compelled him to turn back without 
reaching the Gulf, although he was absent from his post 
nearly a year. 

Meanwhile Joutel and the other members of his party 
had passed safely through Canada without telling what they 
knew, and had reached France. It was only after they 
were safe in the home land that they confessed the truth 
regarding the fate of their commander. It is impossible, 
of course, to justify their conduct in this respect, particu- 
larly as an earlier confession at Tonty's fort might have 
made possible the saving of the survivors on the Gulf. It is 
not easy even to assign motives for the continued duplicity 
of the men, except perhaps in the case of John Cavelier, 
the brother of La Salle. ^ It is said that he desired to 
prevent the announcement of his brother's death until he 
could secure some property against seizure by La Salle's 
creditors. Keenly disappointed in the outcome of the 
project. King Louis could not be induced, even by the 
forcible arguments of Joutel, to renew the undertaking, 
or even to make any effort to rescue the unfortunate colo- 
nists on the Gulf. The only result of the news was a royal 
order that the murderers of La Salle be apprehended. As 
a matter of fact, no one was ever called to account legally 
for the crime, though, as we have seen, the two men 
most responsible for it had long since fallen victims to the 
anarchic violence which they had themselves instituted 
in killing their leader. 

1 Joutel simply says that he and his companions were unwilling that 
the Indians should be emboldened in their relations with the French by 
reason of the intelligence of La Salle's death. French, Historical Collec- 
tions of Louisiana, I. 175. 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 129 

The fate of the Texan colony is soon told.^ Ever since 
the landing of La Salle's expedition in 1684, the Spaniards 
had been searching along the coasts with a view to 
ascertaining the location and strength of the trespassing 
colony. They had uniformly failed to find it, however, 
despite the fact that they early encountered the wrecked 
vessels in the vicinity of Galveston. It was through a 
Frenchman, probably a deserter from La Salle's company, 
that the desired information was finally obtained. Under 
his guidance a band of Spanish soldiers was despatched 
from New Leon to capture the colony. When they ar- 
rived at the fort, some months after La Salle's final depar- 
ture from it in January, 1687, they found it deserted and 
in ruins, A short distance off lay the bodies of three of 
the soldiers. From the Indians it was learned that two 
of the Frenchmen survived and were living with the mem- 
bers of a distant tribe. Under a pledge of good treatment 
these were sent for. When they arrived they had horri- 
ble tales to tell of smallpox and of slaughter by the sav- 
ages, by which the colony had been exterminated. A few 
others who had deserted the colony at various stages of 
its existence subsequently fell into the hands of the Span- 
iards, all with the same stories of suffering and hardship.^ 

The first attempt of the French to take actual posses- 



1 The Spanish account of the end of the colony is translated from 
Barcia's " Ensayo cronologico de la Florida," in Shea, Discovery and Ex- 
ploration of the Mississippi Valley, 208-210, note. Another Spanish 
account is printed in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, II. 293- 
295. See Parkman, La Salle, Ch. XXLX. 

2 Two of these men eventually escaped to France. Their testimony in 
regard to the fate of the colony is given in Margry, Decouvertes et Etab- 
lissements des Fran<;ais, III. 610-62 L 

K 



130 THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

sion of the Mississippi Valley had ended in failure and 
ignominy. This had been due to a combination of unfa- 
vorable conditions and events, beginning with the quarrels 
of La Salle and Beaujeu and ending with the mutiny of 
the colonists. Even if the Mississippi had been reached, 
as was intended, the colony could hardly have been a 
success, owing to the unfitness of the settlers. Likewise 
Louis and his ministers were too much preoccupied with 
European affairs to give the requisite attention to the 
interests of France in America. A single failure, such as 
that of La Salle, Avas sufficient to cut oft" royal patronage 
absolutely. French settlement of Louisiana was at this 
stage very similar to the English settlement of the Atlantic 
seaboard in the days of Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth. 
Only through some very bitter experience was the method 
of effectiveness being worked out for the benefit of future 
generations. 

After two decades of hazardous endeavor in behalf of 
his country's interests on the American frontier, La Salle 
lay a martyr alike to his own ambition and the glory of 
the Bourbon dominions. " Thus," says John Fiske, " was 
cut short the career of the man whose personality is im- 
pressed in some respects more strongly than that of any 
other upon the history of New France. His schemes were 
too far-reaching to succeed. They required the strength 
and resources of half a dozen nations like the France of 
Louis XIV. Nevertheless the lines upon which New 
France continued to develop were substantially those 
which La Salle had in mind, and the fabric of a wilder- 
ness-empire, of which he laid the foundations, grew with 
the general growth of colonization, and in the next cen- 



IV LA SALLE AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST 131 

tiirj became truly formidable. It was not until Wolfe 
climbed the Heights of Abraham that the great ideal of 
La Salle was finally overthrown." ^ * 

Despite his failures, the achievements of La Salle had 
indeed been sufficient to warrant this tribute. His con- 
temporaries, especially those who were associated most 
closely with him in his great enterprises, were not slow 
to recognize in him the most dauntless of explorers and 
far-seeing of empire builders. In his narrative of the 
descent of the Mississippi, in 1682, Father Menibre says, 
" Our expedition of discovery was accomplished without 
having lost any of our men, French or Indian, and with- 
out anybody's being wounded, for which we were indebted 
to the protection of the Almighty, and the great capacity 
of Monsieur de La Salle." ^ In his account of the expedi- 
tion of 1686 in search of the Mississippi, Father Douay 
declares, "It* would be difficult to find in history courage 
more intrepid or more invincible than that of the Sieur de 
La Salle ; in adversity he was never cast down, and always 
hoped with the help of heaven to succeed in his enter- 
prises, despite all the obstacles that rose against them."^ 

As Father Douay asserted, one may search a long while 
in the annals of discovery and exploration before finding 
another man who accomplished so much in the face of 
such constant and disheartening reverses. It was, per- 
haps, no great feat to follow the Mississippi to the sea 
after Marquette and Joliet liad already gone as far as the 

^ Fiske, Neil} France and Nevj Enoland, 1.S2. 

2 " Narrative of Father Meinbr^," Sliea, Discovery and Exploration of 
the Missisin'ppi Vnllpij, 18:5. 

* " Iiiarrative of Father Douay," 8hea, ibid., 206. 



132 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, it 

Arkansas. It was a great feat to reach the Mississippi 
at all after undergoing all the ill luck and disappoint- 
ments that were crowded into the decade of La Salle's life 
immediately prior to 1682. It did not require unusual 
genius to lead out to the New World such a colony as 
landed at Matagorda in 1685 ; but to fight so desperately 
as did La Salle for the life of the settlement called for a 
strength of character and heroism rare indeed among the 
seventeenth-century advance agents of Europe in America. 
Two estimates of the man by modern historians may be 
quoted in closing this chapter. Says George Bancroft, 
" For force of will and vast conceptions ; for various 
knowledge and quick adaptation to untried circum- 
stances ; for energy of purpose and unfaltering hope, — 
this daring adventurer had no superior among his coun- 
trymen." ^ And James K. Hosmer, " P'or all the quali- 
ties of rugged manhood, courage, persistency that could 
not be broken, contempt of pain and hardship, in the 
story of America he has never been surpassed, and seldom 
paralleled." 2 

1 Bancroft, History of the United States (Centenary ed.), II. 342. 

2 Hosmer, Short History of the 3Iississippi Valley, 40. 



CHAPTER V 

THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 

IN the opening of the North American continent the 
Frenchman had this great advantage over some of 
his rivals, — that he entered tlie hind from the right direc- 
tion and at a very strategic point. The first important 
expedition which the French sent out to the New World 
— that of Jacques Cartier in 1534 — brought them at once 
to the mouth of the St. Lawrence and set them on the 
most inviting path to the vast interior. From this van- 
tage point the way was easy and inevitable. With but 
two breaks, each of a very few miles, the waterway was 
absolutely continuous all the distance up the St. Lawrence, 
through the Great Lakes, into the eastern tributaries of 
the Mississippi, and finally down the long stretch of that 
noble stream to the Gulf. The English colonists on the 
seaboard ascended the affluents of the Atlantic only to 
be brought up short within a little time against a great 
mountain barrier. Farther to the north the French found 
nothing more serious to impede the way than occasional 
rapids and easy portages. As a consequence of this, and 
of the further fact that by nature the Frenchmen Avho 
came to America were of a more roving and venturesome 
disposition than the English, their explorations moved 
much more rapidly. They covered ground a score of 

133 



134 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

times as fast, and had ranged and mapped the country 
continuously from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico before 
the English yet knew the upper courses of even the James, 
the Hudson, and the Connecticut. 

Their movements were also strikingly unlike those of 
the Spanish. The Spaniard in America thought little of 
colonization and much of plunder and conquest. It was 
not scientific curiosity, nor missionary zeal, nor commer- 
cial enterprise, that had prompted the expeditions of 
Leon and Cortes, of Narvaez and Soto. These heroic 
but misguided adventurers sought the New World only 
because they had been led to believe that they would find 
fabulous wealth in it — wealth ready to hand, and not re- 
quiring to be wrung from the soil or laboriously wrought 
out from the resources of the country. In his explora- 
tions the Spaniard moved by land and not by water. He 
expected by traversing the wilderness to come the more 
quickly upon the treasure he was seeking. De Leon, 
Narvaez, Soto — all wore their followers to a pitiful 
remnant by dragging them through the swamps and for- 
ests of the southern United States, exposing them to 
every peril of disease and Indian attack, and cutting 
them off entirely from outside aid and support. On the 
other hand, the Frenchman kept close to the watercourses, 
by which his travels were materially facilitated. More- 
over, he did not contemplate forcible conquest — was not 
expecting to find any treasure for which conquest would 
be worth while. His interests in the American interior 
were in part those of the missionar}^ in part those of the 
thrifty trader, and in no small degree those of the mere 
adventurer, who loves for their own sake the excitements 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 135 

and vicissitudes of the explorer's life. He therefore moved, 
not in cumbersome military divisions, but singly or in com- 
panies of from two to a dozen. Only very rarely did death 
or other serious misfortune overtake him. In the sinsfle 
expedition of Soto probably a number of Spaniards per- 
ished greater than that of all the Frenchmen who died 
by violence or accident on the American frontiers during 
the seventeenth century. For the Spaniard the Missis- 
sippi, instead of being a highway of exploration and dis- 
covery, became merely a luckily found road of escape 
from the torments of the wilderness. In the unfortunate 
methods and false ideals pursued by him, as well as his 
blunted geographical perception, must be found the rea- 
sons why the subsequent work of the French was not 
forestalled and the banner of Castile carried along the 
waterways from south to north through the very heart 
of the continent a century and a quarter before any 
Frenchman had ever looked upon the "great water." 

From Montreal and Quebec the stream of French enter- 
prise flowed westward, first by the Ottawa Valley to the 
Huron country, and later thither by the line of the lower 
Great Lakes. The hostile Iroquois nation in western New 
York served as a buffer in that direction, and long kept 
the French and English from coming into contact in the 
region of the upper Ohio. With the exception of La 
Salle's shadowy expedition down the Ohio in 1670, we 
hear of no noteworthy efforts on part of the French 
before the end of the seventeenth century to enter that 
part of the continent. Long after Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Illinois, and the Mississippi shores all the way to the Gulf 
were well known the valley of the Ohio remained a terra 



136 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

incognita.^ It was eventually the English from across the 
AUeghanies, rather than the French, who explored and 
opened it to settlement. 

Whatever route the French trader or missionary took 
from the St. Lawrence colonies to the West brought him 
inevitably to Mackinaw, from which point the lines again 
diverged. He might press on westward by way of the 
Sault and enter the Lake Superior region, or he might 
turn southward in the direction of Green Bay and south- 
ern Lake Michigan. If he wished to reach the Missis- 
sippi there were several ways of doing so. He might 
ascend the Fox River from Green Bay, cross the grass- 
choked portage to the Wisconsin, and follow that stream 
to its junction with the larger one, as had Marquette and 
Joliet in 1673. Or he might turn from southwestern 
Lake Michigan into the Chicago River, and by a portage 
at its head reach the upper Illinois, as had La Salle on 
one of his trips. Or, as La Salle did on another occasion, 
he might ascend the St. Joseph from southeastern Lake 
Michigan, cross in northern Indiana to the Kankakee, and 
follow that stream to the Illinois and eventually arrive 
at the desired destination. ^ 

The pathway to the far Northwest was Lake Superior. 
On account of the fact that the French first sought the 
West by way of the Ottawa Valley, Lake Superior was 

1 For example, on the notable map constructed at Paris in 1682 by 
Father Hennepin — a map designed to show all that was known of the 
North American interior — Lake Erie is carried as far south as the lati- 
tude of the Ohio, and of this river there is not the slightest trace. See a 
reproduction of the map in Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 279. 

2 On the portages of the Mississippi basin, see Archer B. Hulbert, His- 
toric Ilighivays of America, VII. Ch. IV. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 137 

pretty thoroughly explored before as much could be said 
for two or three of the more eastern lakes — indeed before 
even the existence of Lake Erie was understood. i On a 
map prepared by Champlain in 1632, we are given the 
first cartographical intimation of a "Grand Lac" beyond 
the Saut du Gaston, or Sault Ste. Marie. ^ In 1634 Nico- 
let reached the Sault, being probably the first European 
to do so, but was apparently indifferent to the waters 
which lay beyond. There is no doubt that Grosseilliers 
spent the winter of 1658-1659 on the southern shore of 
the lake, where from the neighboring Sioux he heard of 
the great river to the West. The following summer, as 
has been elsewhere related, Grosseilliers, with his brother- 
in-law Radisson, explored the lake to its western extremi- 
ties, spending considerable time in the vicinity of modern 
Dulutli, where they were again among the Sioux. In 
1665 Father AUouez had founded the mission of the 
Holy Spirit at La Pointe, and bestowed the name 
" Tracy " upon the lake in honor of Marquis de Tracy, 
then lieutenant general of New France. In 1669 Allouez 
had been displaced by Marquette, who remained at La 
Pointe until the Sioux drove the Hurons eastward the 
following year. It was at the Sault gateway that 
St. Lusson took possession of the Great Lake country in 
1671. The Jesuit Relation of 1672 contained the earliest 
complete map of the lake, and one it must be said whose 
accuracy is truly remarkable.^ The first important ex- 

^ Artluu- Harvey, "The Discovery of Lake Superior," in the Magardne 
of Aniprican History, XIII. 573-581. 

2 This map is reproduced in Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 142-143. 

8 Ibid., 208-209, and in Thwaites, Jesuit delations. LV. 04. Winsor 
declares that it is doubtful if any better was engraved at that day, " It 



138 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ploring enterprise in wliich Joliet had engaged was an 
expedition to Lake Superior in 1669, under Talon's direc- 
tion, to investigate the truth of current rumors regarding 
deposits of copper in the vicinity of tlie hike. 

All the visitors to the Superior region from Grosseilliers 
on had become more or less acquainted with the Sioux, 
from whom they heard many interesting things regarding 
the lands lying back from the lake and extending to the 
shores of the yet undiscovered "great water." It must 
be remembered that one of the chief interests of the 
French officials was to open up a westward route to the 
China Sea. So far as could be known there might be 
still more great lakes west of Superior, and these might 
well lead all the way across to the desired outlet. The 
region beyond Superior was therefore regarded as well 
worth exploring on this account alone. Especially keen 
was the interest in this direction after the descent of the 
Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet in 1673 ; for that 
expedition disappointed the long-cherished hope that the 
river would be found to flow southwestward into the Gulf 
of California. If a water passage to the China Sea was 
yet to be found, it must be by some other route, and of 
the possible ones remaining, that directly west from Lake 
Superior seemed on the whole the most promising. 

In 1678, about the time that La Salle was securing his 
patent from the crown for the establishing of a system 
of forts in the Illinois country, a cousin of Tonty, named 
Daniel Greysolon du Lhut (or Duluth), was given per- 
mission by Frontenac to go on a voyage of discover}^ in 

was certainly a surprising improvement upon what the leading cartog- 
raphers of Europe at this time were letting pass for the geogi'aphy of 
the region." Cartier to Frontenac, 207. 



T THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 139 

the then unexplored region inhabited by the Sioux and 
Assineboines in northern and central Minnesota. Duluth 
was a typical forest wanderer, apparently but little inter- 
ested in trade or missions, but always ready for an enter- 
prise promising adventure. When times grew dull in 
America, he returned to France to take part in King 
Louis's campaigns, and after the life of the soldier lost 
its novelty and charm, he once more set his face toward 
the tempting wilderness of the New World. On the 
1st of September, 1678, with three Frenchmen and three 
Indians, he set out from Montreal for Lake Superior. ^ 
The winter was spent somewhere in the vicinity of Lake 
Huron, and as early the next spring as the weather would 
permit, the journey was continued past Mackinaw in the 
direction of Sault Ste. Marie. On the 5th of April the 
party was within three leagues of the Sault. At that 
time Duluth despatched a letter to Frontenac in which he 
expressed his intention to take formal possession of the 
Sioux country in the name of the king of France, and 
thus forestall aggressions in that quarter by the Spaniards 

1 Among general accounts of Duluth's expedition may be mentioned : 
Edward D. Neill, History of the Minnesota Valley, Chs. IV. and V. ; 
an anonymous sketch in Minnesota Historical Collections, I. 814-318 ; 
Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, Ch. XII., and Narrative and Critical 
History of America, IV. Cbs. V. and VII. passim ; and Parknian, La Salle, 
255-2(52. It should be observed that historical estimates of Duluth have 
usually been based on information drawn from the reports of his arch 
enemy, the intendant, Du Chesneau, and are therefore rather too unfavor- 
able. For the correction of the intendant's bias it is necessary to resort 
to Duluth's " M^moire sur la D^couverte du Pays des Nadoussioux 
dans le Canada," written in 1685, and published in Harri.sse, Notes pour 
servir a VHistoire cle la Notivelle France, 177-181. A translation of 
this "'Mfimoire" is in J. G. Shea, Hennepin's Description of Louisiana, 
374-377. 



140 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

from the Gulf or by the English from the Hudson Ba}^ 
region. 1 This purpose was executed July 2. On that 
day, according to a letter to Frontenac, he " caused his 
Majesty's arms to be planted in the Great Village of the 
Nadoussioux, called Kothio, where no Frenchman had 
ever been, nor at Sougaskicons and Houetbatons, 120 
leagues distance from the former, where he also set up 
the king's arms in 1679. "^ The first ceremony occurred 
among the Isanti Sioux who dwelt in the Mille Lacs 
region about seventy miles west of Lake Superior, the 
latter one not far from the shores of Sandy Lake on the 
upper Mississippi. September 15 a meeting of the Sioux 
and Assineboines was held near the head of Lake Superior ^ 
for the purpose of giving Duluth an opportunity to medi- 
ate between the two peoples in the settlement of some of 
their perennial quarrels. According to his later account, 
his efforts on this occasion were entirely successful and 
the warring peoples were "reunited together."* The 
Assineboines were originally but an alienated band of 
Sioux, so perhaps the work of conciliation was not so very 
difficult. 

In the summer of 1679 one of the Frenchmen, Pierre 
Moreau, alias La Taupine, who had accompanied Duluth 
to the Sioux country, returned to Quebec, boasting of his 
success in trading for furs among the Ottawas. By the 
French law the cou7'eurs-de-bois, to which class Duluth and 
his companions clearly belonged, were forbidden to trade 

1 O'Callaghan, N'ew York Colonial Documents, IX. 795. 
^ Ibid. ; Duluth's " M^moire," in Sliea, Hennepin, S7 5. 
3 Apparently on tbe site of the Fort William of the old Northwest 
Company. Winsor, Narratim and Critical Hiatory of America, IV. 182. 
■* Duluth's " M^moire,"' in Shea, Hennepin, 375. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 141 

with the Indians, though of course the prohibition was 
regularly evaded. On being arrested by the order of the 
intendant, ]\Ioreau coolly produced a special license from 
Governor Frontenac, permitting him and his comrades of , 
the Duluth expedition to engage in the fur trade, at least 
among the Ottawas. This episode operated greatly to 
inflame the lawful traders of New France against the 
governor, and it was openly asserted by his enemies that 
the whole object of Duluth's visit to the West was to 
open up a clandestine trade for the governor's advantage. 
In a letter to Seignelay, the French minister of marine, 
under date of November 10, 1679, the intendant, Du 
Chesneau, declared that the incorrigibility of the coureurs 
had "reached such a point that every body boldly con- 
travenes the King's interdictions." Frontenac was directly 
accused of being wholly responsible for the miscarriage of 
the law, inasmuch as he issued special exemptions when- 
ever it w'as to his interest to do so. A brother-in-law of 
Duluth Avas said to be the agent through whom the gov- 
ernor and his most notorious ally in the West reached 
agreements regarding the division of the ^oil.^ There 
can hardly be any doubt that Frontenac marred his 
administration by a certain amount of such illicit con- 
duct, though not likely to the extent his accusers would 
have us believe. 

During the summer of 1680, Duluth busied himself with 
an attempt to reach the Sioux villages by a water route, 
having gone thither heretofore by land.^ With an Indian 

1 O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, IX. 131-136 ; Park- 
man, Frontenac and Nev) France, 50. 

2 Duluth's " M^moire," in Shea, Hennepin, 375. 



142 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

interpreter and four Frenchmen he made a start from the 
mouth of the Bois Brule River which flows into Lake 
Superior, eight leagues distant from the western end of 
the lake, near the eastern line of Douglas County, Wiscon- 
sin. This stream was a narrow one with its course much 
obstructed by fallen trees and beaver dams, so that prog- 
ress on it was slow. When its upper waters were reached, 
the travellers dragged their two canoes across a short port- 
age to the upper Lake St. Croix, from which they passed 
directly into the St. Croix River. This led them to the 
Mississippi at Hastings, Minnesota, a short distance below 
St. Paul. On arriving among the Sioux, Duluth received 
the rather surprising intelligence that a party of their 
warriors had gone down the river to hunt, in company 
with a number of visiting Europeans. The question which 
at once presented itself was, Who were these Europeans ? 
There were several possibilities, and the descriptions given 
by the Indians were not sufficient to identify them.^ They 
might, of course, be only other coureurs-de-bois. Yet they 
might also be Spaniards or Englishmen, betokening a rival 
movement to secure possession of the country. In this 
latter case Duluth might not have been any too soon in 
setting up the banner of King Louis at Mille Lacs. It 
appears that Duluth, when starting from Lake Superior, 
had determined upon the plan of continuing his explora- 
tions westward in search of a passage to the China Sea, 
and thus fulfilling the real purpose of his visit to the West. 

1 This view, i.e. that Duluth was in doubt as to the nationality of the 
Europeans, is that held by Winsor. Cartier to Frontenac, 274. Neill, 
however, assumes that Duluth understood that tliey were Frenchnuu. 
Wiusor, Narrative and Critical History of America., IV, 184. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 143 

He firmly believed that in twenty days he could reach the 
Gulf of California. This project was now to be given 
over for the time being, however, until it should be learned 
who these Europeans were of whose late presence the Ind- 
ians told. Two of the men were therefore left at the 
mouth of the St. Croix in charge of the provisions and 
articles for trading which the party carried, while Duluth 
with the other two started down the river in pursuit of 
the hunting expedition which the Europeans were reported 
to be accompanying. It is now necessary to explain who 
these Europeans were and how they happened to be in the 
Sioux neighborhood in the summer of 1680. 

It will be remembered that during the course of La 
Salle's hazardous operations in the Illinois country in the 
winter of 1679-1680, a side expedition had been sent out 
under Michel Accau to explore the waters of the upper 
Mississippi. With Accau went two companions — An- 
toine Augel, commonly known as Picard du Gay, and 
Father Louis de Hennepin, a Recollect of the Province of 
St. Anthony in Artois. Our knowledge of the enterprise 
comes wholly from the narratives of Father Hennepin, and 
for this reason the expedition is generally associated with 
his name. 

Hennepin is an interesting, though not an altogether 
attractive, personality. He was a Flemish friar of the 
Franciscan order and a man of no less venturesome dispo- 
sition than La Salle himself. Coming to Quebec in 1675, 
he had entered upon a career fraught with perils which he 
seems habitually to have made little attempt to avoid. His 
first undertaking in the New World was characteristic, 
being nothing less than a winter pilgrimage into the very 



144 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

heart of the hostile Iroquois country. It was he, together 
with Tonty, whom La Salle had sent out from Fort Fron- 
tenac in 1678 as his advance agent in the Niagara region. 
He it was who wrote the first description of Niagara Falls 
and made the first map of their vicinity, and he partici- 
pated in the construction of the first boat ever built on the 
Great Lakes by Europeans. And when the country north 
from the Illinois to Lake Superior was to be explored in 
1680, it is small wonder that this intrepid priest was 
selected as one of the party to do the work. In years 
subsequent to his American career Hennepin acquired an 
unenviable reputation for mendacity, but no one ever 
successfully imputed his hardihood and bravery. 

Hennepin and his two comrades set out from Fort 
Crevecoeur on the last day of February, 1680. ^ The Illi- 
nois — or Seignelay, as it was then called — was descended 
without important incident. The travellers noted that it 
was " as deep and broad as the Seine at Paris," having a 
current so sluggish, by reason of the flatness of the coun- 
try, that it was not perceptible except in time of great 
rains. ^ This was,- of course, before La Salle had yet gone 
below Crevecoeur, and the lower Illinois had afforded a 

1 General accounts of Hennepin's explorations are in Parkman, Ln Salle, 
Chs. XVII. and XVIII. ; Kingsford, History of Canada, I. Ch. X. : 
Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, Chap. XII., and Narrative and Critical 
History, IV. Ch. V.; Minnesota Historical Collections, I. 302-313; 
VI. (the Hennepin bi-centenary papers and speeches), and VIII. 223- 
240 (paper on Hennepin as Discoverer and Author, by Samuel M. Davis), 
Neill, History of the Minnesota Valley, Ch. IV., and History of Min- 
nesota, Ch. VI. 

2 " Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 108. This " narrative " forms the latter half of 
Hennepin's Description of Louisiana, previously referred to. 



V THE EXPLORATION OE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 145 

pathway for European explorers on but one former occa- 
sion, i.e. the return of Joliet and Marquette in 1673. 
When within two leagues of the Mississippi, Hennepin 
encountered the Tamaroa Indians, who were incensed at 
the white men's refusal to go with them to their village 
farther down on the west bank of the larger stream. Es- 
caping the pursuit of these outraged natives, the French- 
men arrived at the mouth of the Illinois on or near the 
8th of March. It was noted especially that in the angle 
north of the Illinois there were fields of black earth, the 
end of which could not be seen, all ready for cultivation, 
which would be very advantageous for the existence of a 
colony. For three days the floating ice in the Mississippi 
prevented a continuation of the journey northward. But 
at last the current was clear enough to be breasted with 
safety by the small canoes. The river was found to be 
" almost everywhere a short league in width, and in some 
places two or three " ; also " divided by a number of isl- 
ands covered with trees, interlaced with so many vines as 
to be almost impassable." Many large tributaries were 
observed — the Des Moines, the Iowa, the St. Peter's, the 
Wisconsin, the Chippewa, and others. Some of them 
were ascended short distances to determine their direction 
and navigability. 

On the 11th of April, when near the mouth of the 
Black River, the voyagers fell in with a party of 120 
Sioux coming down the river "with extraordinary speed" 
to make war on the Illinois, Miamis, and Tamaroas. The 
Indians at first discharged a shower of arrows, but wlien 
some of the older men saw Hennepin with the calumet of 
peace in his hands, they prevented the younger bloods 



146 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

from following up their advantage. Nevertheless, the 
savages leaped from their canoes, seized the French, and 
were handling them vigorously, until the latter made 
them presents of smoking tobacco, axes, and knives. 
Upon this the victims were graciously given to under- 
stand that their lives were their own, for a few hours 
at least. At night the peace calumet was returned to 
Hennepin, and the worst was expected. " Our two boat- 
men," says the priest, in his narrative, " were resolved 
to sell their lives dearly, and to resist if attacked ; their 
arras and swords were ready. As for my own part, I 
determined to allow myself to be killed without any 
resistance, as I was going to announce to them a God 
who had been falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and 
cruelly crucified, without showing the least aversion to 
those who put him to death." ^ In the morning, however, 
the chiefs had no worse news to announce than that they 
had decided to discontinue their expedition against their 
southern neighbors, and were proposing to carry their 
newly found friends back with them to their northern 
homes. The Sioux had already profited by the exten- 
sion of French trade in their country, and doubtless con- 
sidered it the part of wisdom to refrain from the deeds of. 
violence which their first instincts prompted. 

Accordingljs when Hennepin and his comrades con- 
tinued their journey up the Mississippi, they went in the 
role of prisoners. Far from being assured of their future 
safety, they were as careful as possible to do nothing 
wliich would arouse the suspicion or hatred of their 

1 "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Sliea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley^ 110. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 147 

captors. Hennepin had no small dilliculty in securing 
opportunities to say his prayers. Neither people could 
undei'stand a word of the other's language, but it was 
noted that when the Indians saw the priest moving his 
lips at his devotions, they displayed unmistakable signs 
of displeasure. Accau and Picard, whose piet}^ was not 
conspicuous enough to bring them into danger, remon- 
strated with the more conscientious Hennepin, declaring 
that unless he stopped saying his breviary they would all 
be killed. After vainly trying to elude the gaze of the 
savages long enough to perform his wonted acts of wor- 
ship, he finally adopted the scheme of disarming their 
suspicion by chanting the litany of the Virgin, since 
they were discovered to be extremely fond of singing. 
For nineteen days the voyage was continued, covering 
a distance which the Frenchmen estimated at 250 leagues. 
Hennepin tells us that the Indians " rowed with great 
rapidity from early in the morning till evening, scarcely 
stopping to eat during the day." He says further: " The 
outrages done us by these Indians during our whole route 
was incredible, for seeing that our canoe was much larger 
and more heavily laden than theirs, and that we could 
not go faster than they, they put some warriors with us 
to help us row, to oblige us to follow them. These 
Indians sometimes make thirty or forty leagues, when 
at war and pressed for time, or anxious to surprise some 
enemy." ^ Navigation was rendered the more dil'licult and 
dangerous, of course, by reason of the fact that the river 
was still filled with floating ice from the spring thaw. 

1 "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valhy, 117. 



148 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

All the time there was a portion of the party which 
clamored for the Frenchmen's death. Especially threat- 
ening was one chief whose son had been killed by the 
Miamis, and who was enraged at Hennepin for having 
been the cause, albeit a very unwilling one, of the Sioux 
band's turning aside from the war of vengeance. " He 
wept through almost every night him he had lost in war, 
to oblige those who had come out to avenge him, to kill 
us and seize all we had, so as to be able to pursue his 
enemies." At Lake Pepin, near modern Red Wing, the 
inconsolable chieftain's grief was so conspicuous that the 
Frenchmen bestowed upon this beautiful expanse of 
the river the name Lake of Tears. ^ Hennepin says that 
the chief shed tears all night long, or when himself tired 
of his lacrymose exertions, compelled his surviving son 
to take up the demonstration of sorrow, " in order to 
excite his warriors to compassion, and oblige them to kill 
us and pursue their enemies to avenge his son's death." 
But better counsels still prevailed. "Those who liked 
European goods were much disposed to preserve us, so as 
to attract other Frenchmen there and get iron, which is 
extremely precious in their eyes, but of which they knew 
the great utility only when they saw one of our French 
boatmen kill three or four bustards or turkeys at a single 
shot, while they can scarcely kill only one with an 
arrow." ^ 

Near the present site of St. Paul the canoes were 

1 Parkman attributed the name Pepin to the fact that one of Duluth's 
four companions was known by it. La Salle, 257. This is possible, of 
course, but by no means assured. 

2 "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississippi Valley, 117-118. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 149 

hidden in the brushwood, and the Sioux with their cap- 
tives pressed on by land along the valley of the Rum 
River in the direction of Mille Lacs. Hennepin, Ac- 
cau, and Du Gay were distributed to three heads of 
families to take the places of three of their children 
who had been killed in war. The march overland was 
a striking demonstration of the physical superiority of 
the Indian over the European. Day after day, from 
dawn until two hours after nightfall, the exhausted 
Frenchmen were compelled to keep pace with their 
swift-limbed captors. " I was so weak," says Hennepin, 
" that I often lay down on the way, resolved to die there 
rather than follow these Indians. To oblige us to 
hasten on, they often set fire to the grass of the prairies 
where we were passing, so that we had to advance or 
burn." After five or six days of this sort of thing the 
party reached the chief village of the Sioux, where, after 
barbarous ceremonies which the Frenchmen thought por- 
tended their death, it dispersed. Each of the white 
men was carried away by the chief who had adopted 
him, and for three months they saw but little of each 
other. 

Although the circumstances of Hennepin's trip through 
southern Minnesota were thus hardly compatible with 
sight-seeing, he did not fail to be impressed with the 
natural beauty and wealth of tlie region. "Nothing is 
wanting," he writes, "that is necessary for life." He 
describes with much enthusiasm the sweeping prairies, 
reaching far as eye could see, the mines of copper, coal, 
and slate, the vast forests to be cleared, the great variety 
of fish inhabiting the lakes and streams, and the fertility 



150 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of the soil, producing Indian corn, squashes, melons, 
turnips, wheat, cabbages, parsnips, and numerous other 
vegetables. Among other noteworthy products he speaks 
especially of the frogs which " are seen there, of strange 
size, whose bellowing is as loud as the lowing of cows." 
The district which he saw in part is that commonly 
known to-day as the Lake Park region. Explorers and 
travellers, beginning with Hennepin, have long vied 
with each other in setting forth the attractiveness of 
the lakes, prairies, and forests of this country. In later 
times the Park region has become a thickly settled one — 
a veritable garden, and at the same time one of the world's 
finest fishing preserves and lake and summer resorts. 

The occasion of reunion of the three captives was a 
buffalo hunt ' down the river — tlie self -same hunt of 
which Duluth was to hear a little later. The start 
was made early in July, 1680, with a party of 250 
warriors. Accau and Du Gay had no trouble in 
gaining permission to go along with the expedition, 
but Hennepin came near being left behind. At the 
last moment he persuaded two braves to admit him to 
their canoe on condition that he earn his passage by 
bailing out the leakage. When the hunters reached the 
mouth of the St. Francis they allowed Hennepin and 
Du Gay to make their way ahead down the Mississippi 
to the mouth of the Wisconsin, where La Salle had 
promised to have some Frenchmen in waiting for the 
relief of the exjjlorers.^ Accau refused to accompany 

1 This is the first we hear of this arrangement, but Hennepin clearly 
states it as a fact. "Narrative," Shea, Discovery and Exploration of 
the Mississippi Valley, 133. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 101 

them, and the Indians seem to have thought that he 
remained behind as a sort of hostage for the return of 
his colleagues. 

It was now July, and life on the upper Mississippi 
was really far from unpleasant. In their bark canoe 
the voyagers floated leisurely with the current of the 
great river, stopping occasionally to supply themselves 
witli game and wild fruits for food. After some days 
of travelling they came upon the picturesque falls near 
Minneapolis, one of the finest pieces of scenery in all 
the great Northwest. " These falls," says Hennepin, 
"• I called St. Anthony of Padua's in gratitude for the 
favors done me by the Almighty through the interces- 
sion of that great saint, whom we had chosen patron 
and protector of all our enterprises." The falls are 
described in Hennepin's narrative as forty or fifty feet 
in height, divided in the middle by a rocky island of 
pyramidal form, and surrounded by fascinating scenery. 
Since that day the contour of the falls has greatly 
changed. They are now precipitous rapids rather than 
an abrupt cataract. Moreover, they have moved back 
up the river more than a fifth of a mile — a recession 
of about three and a half feet a year. Geologists esti- 
mate that they have been not less than eight thousand 
years cutting their way from Fort Snelling, where the 
cataract was first established, to their present position. 
A remnant of the island which divided the fall when 
Hennepin saw it, as Goat Island now divides Niagara, 
can be observed to-day a thousand feet or more below. ^ 

1 Interesting sketches and maps of the Falls of St. Anthony were left 
by a long succession of subsequent explorers of the Northwest, especially 



152 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The Indians knew the cataract as Owah-menah, or Falling 
Water ; and as Hennepin and Du Gay came in sight of 
it, they observed one of them in a near-by oak, weeping 
bitterly, with a well-dressed beaver robe which he was 
offering as a sacrifice to the Spirit of the Falls. By a 
curious coincidence it was reserved for Hennepin, who 
probably first heard the roar of Niagara and who made 
the first map locating that great natural wonder, also 
to discover and name the only cataract of any conse- 
quence in the vast interior of the continent. In our 
day, of course, the Minnehaha fall far eclipses that of St. 
Anthony in beauty and fame, and one may well be sur- 
prised that Hennepin nowhere mentions it, although he 
passed the mouth of the creek which rushes over it, and 
not more than a short mile away. It should be remem- 
bered, however, that in its wild, primitive state St. 
Anthon}^ was doubtless far grander than Minnehaha. 
Early explorers always referred to Minnehaha as the 
Little Fall, and it was not until its immortalizing by 
Longfellow's Hiawatha that it was redeemed from insig- 
nificance. It may be, of course, that Hennepin neither 
saw nor heard of Minnehaha. 

Carrying their canoe around the Falls of St. Anthony, 
the two Frenchmen embarked in the placid water below 

Carver in 1766, Pike in 1805, Long in 1817 and 1823, Schoolcraft in 1820 
and 1832, and Featherstonehaugh in 1835. Stephen H. Long's " Voyage 
in a Six-oared Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony in 1817 " is printed in the 
Minnesota Historiad Collections, II. 9-87. The records of Carver's and 
Pike's explorations are in the same volume, pp. 349-416. In a svipple- 
ment to the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society [St. Paul, 1850] 
is a general survey of early visits to the falls, prepared by Edward D. 
Neill. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 153 

and continued their journey to Lake Pepin. Food became 
scarce, and on one occasion two days were passed without 
any sort of sustenance. A builalo, shot while swimming 
across the river, broke the fast, and fish dropped from the 
chiws of eagles came to the pious Hennepin as a veritable 
godsend. July 11 the voyagers were overtaken by a band 
of Sioux hunters, among whom Hennepin was surprised 
to find his foster-father. Hennepin's departure from the 
Indian settlements having been against this chieftain's will, 
there was some reason to fear such a meeting. The Indian, 
however, proved friendly, and merely gave his " beloved 
son " an invitation to remain in his company throughout 
the hunt. The proffer was received with due expressions 
of appreciation, but gracefully declined. The Sioux then 
went on tlieir way, after which Hennepin and Du Gay con- 
tinued down the river, " running great risk of perishing a 
thousand times." 

The hunting expedition had broken up into several 
smaller parties, %vlio were scouring the country in search 
of buffalo and incidentally looking out for demonstrations 
from the hostile Illinois and Miamis. Scarcely a day 
passed on which the Frenchmen did not encounter one 
or more of these parties, and finally they decided to assure 
themselves of food by keeping all the time in close range 
of the provident redskins. One day there was a great 
alarm raised in the camp where Hennepin and Du Gay 
were sojourning. Says the priest in his narrative : " The 
old men on duty on the top of the mountains announced 
that they saw two warriors in the distance. All the bow- 
men hastened there with speed, each trying to outstrip the 
others. But they brought back only two of their own 



154 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

women, who came to tell them that a party of their people, 
when hunting at the extremity of Lake Conde (Superior), 
had found five spirits (so they call the French), who, by 
means of a slave, had expressed a wish to come on, know- 
ing us to be among them, in order to find out whether we 
were English, Dutch, Spaniards, or Frenchmen, being 
unable to understand by what roundabout way we had 
reached those tribes."^ 

The " five spirits " were, of course, Duluth and his men, 
who had but recently reached the Mississippi at the mouth 
of the St. Croix, and who were now trying to learn the 
identity of the Europeans, of whose proximity the Indians 
told. Hennepin's curiosity was likewise aroused by the 
reports borne by the two squaws ; and when the hunt was 
ended, and the Indians started on their northward trip 
home, he resolved to accompany them. He hoped thus to 
join the yet unknown party of French. By some Indians 
whom he had commissioned to visit the Wisconsin's mouth, 
he had already been informed that there were no French- 
men there, such as La Salle had promised to send, so that 
Hennepin felt abundantly justified in foregoing a return 
directly to Crevecoeur, and in casting in his fortunes with 
the explorers of the Lake Superior district. 

His hopes were soon realized. July 25 the party of 
Duluth was encountered, and the problem on both sides 
was solved. Just where the meeting occurred cannot be 
ascertained. In one edition of his narrative Hennepin 
tells us that the place was 220 leagues from the Sioux 
country, which would be below the Illinois, and is mani- 

^ "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovcrij and Exploration 
of the Mississi2-)pi Valley, 139. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER JMISSISISIPPI 155 

festl}' incorrect ; in another he substitutes 120 for 220, 
which would bring the meeting just below the Wisconsin. 
If our information as to D ninth's movements is at all well 
founded, it is quite impossible to see how he could have 
been so far south at this time. In the present state of our 
knowledge (and we are hardly likely ever to be better in- 
formed upon this point) the whole matter is in doubt, and 
any statement affecting assurance would be mere folly.^ 

Although the purpose for which he had started from 
Lake Superior had in no wise been accomplished, Duluth 
now declared himself ready to return to the settlements. 
From his correspondence it appears that Hennepin's 
recital of his adventures among the Sioux had not a little 
to do with this change of plan. In a letter to Seigne- 
lay, written after Duluth was again in France, he said : 
" My design was to push on to the sea in a west-north- 
westerly direction, which is that which is believed to be 
the Red Sea [Gulf of California] whence the Indians who 
had gone to war on that side gave salt to three Frenchmen 
whom I had sent exploring, and who brought me said 
salt, having reported to me that the Indians had told them 
that it was only twenty days' journey from where they 
were to find the great lake, whose waters were worthless 
to drink. They had made me believe that it would not 
be absolutely difficult to find it, if permission were given 
to go there. However, I preferred to retrace my steps, 

1 See Shea, 139-140. Duluth, after he returned to France, wrote a 
letter to Seignelay, in which he made it appear that at the time of tiie 
meeting Hennepin was a prisoner ; but La Salle, who probably got his in- 
formation from Accau, refused to believe tliis. Winsor, Narrative and 
Critical History of America, IV. 184. Tliwaites, in Hennepin's AVc Dis- 
covery, I. XXXI., accepts Uuluth's representation. 



156 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

exhibiting the just indignation I felt, rather than to 
remain, after the violence which they had done to the 
Reverend Father [Hennepin] and the other two French- 
men who were with him, whom I put in my canoes and 
brought back to Michelimakinak." ^ 

The Sioux were given to understand that the French 
proposed to return to the St. Lawrence simply in order to 
obtain the necessary equipment for the establishing of 
missions. Consent was readily given by the grand chief, 
who, according to Hennepin's statement, took pencil and 
paper and traced the easiest route to be followed in mak- 
ing the trip. Using this guide, the party of eight dropped 
down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wisconsin, 
ascended that stream, crossed the portage to the Fox, and 
came out on Green Bay, where they found a company of 
coureurs-de-bois, engaged, as usual, in an illegal traffic 
with the natives. " We remained two days to rest," 
writes Hennepin, " sing the Te Deum, high mass, and 
preach. All our Frenchmen went to confession and 
communion, to thank God for having preserved us amid 
so many wanderings and perils." ^ By trading a gun 
for a larger canoe the party was able to set out across 
Lake Michigan for Mackinaw, which was reached in time 
to spend there the winter of 1680-1G81. When the 
Hurons were told of the distance to which the French- 
men had travelled, they declared it clearly proved that, 
while they were themselves mere men, the French were 
spirits, for the latter had gone fearlessly everywhere, 

1 Duluth's '' M^moire," Shea, Hennepin, 377. 

2 "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovery and Exploration 
of the Mississipin Valley, 142. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 157 

while an attempt to do such a thing on their part would 
have meant certain death from the strange nations of the 
West.- 

Although terminating in a manner very different from 
that which La Salle had intended, Accau's (or Henne- 
pin's) expedition had been a success. Many hundred 
miles of the Mississippi's course now became known to 
Europeans for the first time. The banks of the great 
river had been continuously explored from the mouth of 
the Illinois to the mouth of the Rum — from 39° to nearly 
45|^°. Much invaluable information had been obtained 
concerning the products, climate, and inhabitants of the 
Minnesota country ; in fact, it may truly be said that 
Hennepin was the first European to give a clear accoi^nt 
of the great Northwest. 

In May, 1681, Duluth reached Quebec, only to be 
arrested by the intendant, Du Chesneau, for engaging 
in illegal trade. He protested that his career in the 
West had been purely that of an explorer and peace- 
maker among the natives, but to no avail. Even Fronte- 
nac, who was feeling the pressure of public sentiment, 
was constrained to keep his friend in prison in the castle 
at Quebec until a grant of amnesty could be received 
from the king.^ After his release Duluth, along with 
Frontenac, Perrot, and other leading spirits of the colony, 
continued to be inveighed against by the intendant. The 
additional charge was preferred that they were diverting 

1 The amnesty was general, applying to all who were suspected of 
being coureurs-de-bois. Governor Frontenac was authorized to issue 
yearly twenty-five licenses to as many canoes, each carrying three mm, 
to trade among the Indians. 



158 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the fur trade from New France to the English colonies 
because it was more profitable in that quarter. In 1682 
Frontenac was recalled. His departure for France was 
soon followed by that of Duluth, whose American career, 
however, was yet far from an end. 

In the meantime Hennepin had also gone east from 
Mackinaw, and after spending some weeks at Frontenac, 
Montreal, and Quebec, had finally sailed for France in the 
early summer of 1681. The following year was spent by 
him, probably in the monastery at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 
in writing a narrative of his adventures and achievements 
in America. The account was published at Paris early in 
January, 1683, under the title. Description de la Louisi- 
ane iwuvellement deeouverte au Sud - Quest de la Nouvelle 
Fraiice.^ The book was accompanied by a notable map, 
designed to show all that was known of the North 
American interior. ^ On this map the Mississippi Avas 
traced with remarkable accuracy as far south as the site 
of modern St. Louis ; beyond that point its probable 
course to the Gulf was marked with a dotted line. Hen- 
nepin's zeal for Recollect successes at the expense of the 
Jesuits led him to place on his map a mission of his order 
far to the north of the Mississippi's source, though from 
subsequent revisions of the map this mark of audacity 
was prudently withdrawn. Hennepin's idea of the Great 

1 Copies of all of Hennepin's books are rare. The Description may be 
found in the Boston Athenseum, the Library of Congress, the Carter- 
Brown Library at Providence, the Harvard College Library, and the 
Lenox Library at New York. A translation of it was published by J. G. 
Shea at New York in 1880. 

2 Reproduced in Winsor, Xarrntive and Critical History of America, 
IV. 249, and Cartier to Frontenac, 279. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UlTER MISSISSUTI 150 

Lake and Ohio Valley region was much confused. He 
knew no such thing as the Ohio River, and Lake Erie 
Avas extended so far southward as to comprehend all the 
present state of Ohio and much of the surrounding terri- 
tory. This ignorance was rather remarkable in view of 
the fact that Hennepin had so long been in company with 
La Salle, who had certainly traversed Lake Erie, if not 
the Ohio, in 1670. 

Li 1607 appeared a new book from the pen of Henne- 
pin. Its author had in the meantime incurred the dis- 
pleasure of the Provincial of his order by refusing to 
return to America, and had thrown himself upon the favor 
of William IIL, king of England, whose acquaintance he 
had formed at The Hague. The new work — Nouvelle 
Decouverte d'un tres grand Pai/s, situe dans V Amerique, 
entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer glaeiale it was called — 
Avas printed at L^trecht and bore a fulsome dedication to 
King William. 1 It was, in fact, only an enlargement of 
tlie Description^ but in it the author went on to explain 
that at the time of the earlier writing he was not at 
liberty to tell all that he knew, and that now he had 
a supplementary account to render. This additional 
information proved to be startling enough. Its substance 
was that when the writer and his two companions de- 
scended the Illinois in the spring of 1680, they did not 
at once turn norlhward on the waters of tlie Missis- 
sippi, but rather southward, going indeed all the way to 

^ Copies are in the Boston Athenaeum, the Carter-Brown Library, and 
the Harvard College Library. The second English edition of this work, 
edited by R. G. Tliwaites, lias recently been reprinted in two volumes by 
A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. 



IGO THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the Gulf, and that only after this great feat had been 
accomplished did they ascend the Mississippi, fall in with 
the Sioux, and sustain the fortunes and misfortunes 
related in the narrative of 1683. To bear out his revela- 
tion the writer accompanied his book with a revised map, 
on which the Mississippi was represented throughout its 
entire course to the Gulf.^ Hennepin alleged that he had 
been prevented from making public his descent of the 
Mississippi at an earlier date because of the enmity of La 
Salle, who wished to be considered the original explorer 
by reason of the expedition of 1682. 

This story of the ambitious friar represents the most 
reckless mendacity. No one at all informed as to the 
conditions of river navigation at the time could be ex- 
pected to believe it. According to the dates given by 
Hennepin himself, he would have had to travel thirty- 
two hundred miles in thirty days — a rate of more 
than double the best that any western explorer had yet 
been able to make. In his earlier narrative he had 
written what may well have been the truth : " We had 
some design of going to the mouth of the river Colbert, 
which more probably empties into the Gulf of Mexico 
than into the Red Sea ; but the tribes that seized us ofave 
us no time to sail uj) and down the river." 2 The astound- 
ing claim to a descent of the Mississippi in 1680 was on 
the face of it all but incredible. In 1698 its author, 
recognizing its weakness, sought to add to it the quality 
of reason by yet another book — the Nouveau Voyage 

1 This map is reproduced in Tliwaites, Hennepin's Neiv Discovery, 1. 23. 

2 "Narrative of Father Hennepin," Shea, Discovei'y and Exploration 
of the 3tississippi Valley/, 118. 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI IGl 

d\m Pais plus grand que V Europe ^ — in which he vigor- 
ously denied that the distance from the Illinois to the 
Gulf was what La Salle had declared it to be. Moreover, 
he juggled the dates of the Description so as to allow forty- 
three days instead of thirty for the journey to and from 
the river's mouth. The result was a confusion of dates 
and evidence such as scarcely accomplished, even for the 
time, the object which the unscrupulous friar had in mind. 
To the charge of attempted deception must be added 
also that of plagiarism. The portion of the Nouvelle 
Decouverte which has to do with the lower Mississippi is 
closely copied after the journal kept by Father Membre 
during La Salle's voyage in 1682. ^ Hennepin was, of 
course, driven to this ruse by the necessity of lending 
plausibility to his description of a country which he had 
never seen. He indeed made a bold effort to cover up his 
ruthless conduct by charging Le Clercq, the editor of 
Membre's journal, ^ with having made free use of an earlier 
paper left by Hennepin at Quebec, and for more than a 
century many people believed the story. It remained 
for Jared Sparks, in his Life of La Salle, to make a 
thorough exposure of the trick. In the light of Sparks's 
researches, as well as those of Shea and Parkman,^ it 

1 Copies in the Boston Athen?euni and the Carter-Brown Library. The 
London edition of the work is reprinted in Thwaites, Hennepiii's New 
Discovery, Vol. II. 

2 On the authorship of this narrative, see Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 
286. 

^ In Premier Etnhlissement de la Foi, published in 1691. This work 
had been suppressed by the government, hence was almost unknown, and 
could be used by a plagiarist with the greater impunity. 

■• For Shea's masterful statement of the case, see his Discovery and 
Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 99-106. 



162 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

appears that Hennepin's claim to priority in the explora- 
tion of the lower Mississippi must certainly be considered 
one of the most gigantic frauds in American history. 
Far from having its intended effect, the deception has 
reacted against the name of Hennepin until some students 
of the period have even gone so far as to stamp the 
friar's narratives pure fabrications from beginning to end.^ 
While this represents an extreme of criticism, it neverthe- 
less but emphasizes the fact that whatever Hennepin says, 
regarding his own exploits at least, must be verified before 
being fully accepted. As this is generally impossible, we 
are left in a very unsatisfactory position with respect to 
all his achievements from the time he left Crevecoeur in 
the spring of 1680 until he reached Quebec about a year 
later. 

The only defence that has ever been set uj) for Henne- 
pin is that he was the victim of unscrupulous publishers, 
who inserted the passages from Membre merely to create 
a sensation and so enhance the sale of the friar's books. 
But in view of the numerous editions of the Nouvelle 
Decouverte issued during the author's lifetime, each con- 
taining the offensive claims, and in view, further, of the 
utter absence of evidence that Hennepin attempted to 
set the matter right, such defence cannot be deemed. very 
satisfactory. 2 There is abundant proof that the geogra- 

^ Shea did this in his earlier writings. Subsequently he changed his 
point of view, and regarded Hennepin as the victim of circumstances and 
only in part responsible for the exaggerated statements of his achieve- 
ments. See the Introduction to his translation of the Description (1880). 

2 Winsor, Cartier to Frontennc, 285-28G. See a paper by E. D. Neill 
on the writings of Hennepin, read before the Minnesota Historical Society 
in November, 1880, 



V THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 1G3 

pliers of his own time did not believe the story. Condone 
the offence as we may, there has been neither charity nor 
indifference enough on the part of succeeding generations 
to prevent Hennepin's name passing into history under a 
heavy cloud. 

After Hennepin, French operations on the upper Mis- 
sissippi were rather desultory. Such effort as was made 
in that direction had a twofold object — to suppress 
the unlicensed coureurs-de bois, and to fortify the region 
against English aggression from the Hudson Bay dis- 
trict. In 1685 Uenonville, who had that year assumed 
the governorship of New France, despatched Nicholas 
Perrot to take command in the Sioux country and estab- 
lish outposts of French authority. ^ Perrot had been in 
charge of French interests at Green Bay, and was a man 
of >wide acquaintance with western affairs. Upon cross- 
ing to the Mississippi he built one post near the mouth 
of the Wisconsin, and another one on the shores of Lake 
Pepin, known as Fort St. Antoine. From the Sioux he 
heard of a people to the west who used horses and looked 
like Frenchmen — evidently the Spaniards of New Mex- 
ico. He heard also of the English on Hudson Bay, who 

1 For Perrot's career on the upper Mississippi, see Minnesota Historical 
Collections for 18(54, pp. 9-20, and for 1867, pp. 22-81, and E. D. Neill, 
History of the Minnesota Valley, Ch. V. In the Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, XVI. 143-1(30, is a translation of La Potherie's account of 
Perrot in Wisconsin in his Ameriqiie Septentrionale, II. 244-276. See 
also Gardner P. Stickney, Nicholas Ferrot ; a Study in Wisconsin History, 
in the Parknun Club Publications, No. 1 [Milwaukee, 1895]. Perrot 
left a journal in which were recorded the incidents of his life in America 
from 1065 to 1726. It was edited and annotated in Paris in 1864 by 
Father Tailhan under the title, Memoires snr les moeurs et coutumes ct 
religion des sauva'jes de VAmeriqne Septentrionale. 



164 THE OPENING OF THE MiSSlSSIPrl Chap. 

were described as men who lived in houses that walked 
on the water. At the same time that Perrot was erect- 
ing stockades on the Mississippi, De Troyes and Iberville, 
two agents of the Canadian Company of the North, were 
ranging the south shores of Hudson Bay and capturing 
some of the English forts. These, however, were given 
back by a treaty signed between the two powers at 
Whitehall, November 16, 1686. During the years 1688 
and 1689, Perrot was especially active in exploring the 
country west of Lake Superior and winning, or terrify- 
ing, the natives to friendship with the French. May 8, 
1689, occurred another of those spectacular ceremonies 
by which the French were accustomed to impress the 
Indians with the majesty of King Louis, and at the same 
time announce to the world another extension of the 
Bourbon dominion. On that day at the post of St. 
Antoine on Lake Pepin, a little distance above the 
mouth of the Chippewa, formal possession was taken 
of the rivers St. Croix, St. Pierre, and the region of 
Mille Lacs. Duluth had already taken such possession, 
but in matters of this kind a duplication was not consid- 
ered out of the way. 

The next Frenchman of note who visited the upper 
Mississippi after Perrot was Le Sueur, wlio indeed had 
been with Perrot on the occasion of assuming possession 
in 1689. In 1695 he established a post on Lake Pepin to 
serve as a base of operations in his search for copper mines 
on the upper banks of the St. Peter. Five years later he 
was a member of Iberville's ocean expedition to the mouth 
of the Mississippi. With a party of twenty men he 
pushed his way once more up-stream to Lake Pepin, 



V THE EXPLORATION OE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 105 

determined to make another attempt to secure information 
regarding the "green earth" which had long been 
reported to be abundant in some parts of the Northwest. ^ 
By September, 1700, the Falls of St. Anthony had been 
passed and the St. Peter — now known as the Minnesota 
— entered. One of the St. Peter's tributaries, called 
indiscriminately the Blue Earth and the Green River,^ 
was followed to a point somewhat above 44° north lati- 
tude, wdiere a stockade was built in October, 1701, known 
as Fort d'Huillier. An adjoining mine was worked profit- 
ably and a goodly stock of furs collected. In May, 1702, 
a number of canoes were loaded with the furs and " green 
earth " to be transported to the settlements. A small 
garrison was left at the fort, while the rest of the men 
made their way back down the Mississippi to the colony 
which had by this time been established in the vicinity of 
its mouth. A series of misfortunes resulted in Le Sueur's 
never seeing his mine again. In a few months the Sioux 

1 Such scant information as we have regarding Le Sueur's expedition 
comes from the journal of a carpenter by the name of Penicaut, who was 
one of Iberville's party, and from a narrative supposed to have been 
compiled by Benard de La Harpe, a French ofiScer of high standing who 
came to Louisiana in 1718. The latter document is printed in B. F. 
French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part III. pp. 19 et seq., and 
in J. G. Shea, Early Voyacjes up and doimi the Mississippi, 89-111. Ex- 
tracts from it are given in Hart, Amrrican Histonj told by Contempora- 
ries, II. 813-315. Penicaut's " Relation " is given in Margry, Decouvertes 
et Etahlissements dcs Franrais dans V Quest et dans le Sud de VAmerique 
Septentrionale, V. 375-580, and in partial translation in Minnesota His- 
torical Collections, III. 4-12. On Le Sueur, .see also Minnesota Historical 
Collections, I. 319-3.39 ; Neill, History of the Minnesota Valley, Ch. VIL, 
and Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVL 173, 177-200. 

■^ In the narrative of La Harpe the " Blue River " is given as equivalent 
to the Minnesota, but the greatest confusion prevailed regarding the 
name. 



166 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

attacked the fort, and expelled its defenders. Thus the 
enterprise was early brought to naught, though its 
prospects of success were for a little time such as to lead 
Governor Callieres at Quebec to protest vigorously to the 
ministry against the diversion of western traffic from the 
St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. There is a story to 
the effect that at about the same time an explorer by the 
name of Du Charleville endeavored to reach the head 
waters of the Mississippi in order to extend trading con- 
nections, and that he went a hundred leagues beyond the 
Falls of St. Anthony, where he met a party of Sioux 
hunters who influenced him to turn back by representing 
that the distance from the falls to the source was fully as 
great as that from the falls to the sea. 

The journal kept by Le Sueur during his northern ex- 
plorations contains a very interesting account of his con- 
tact with the Sioux. "He then entered Blue River," 
runs the narrative, " so called from some mines of blue 
earth which he found on its banks. At this place he met 
nine Scioux, who told him this river came from the coun- 
try of the West. He built a post here, but finding that 
his establishment did not please the Scioux of the East, as 
well as the neighboring tribes, he had to tell them that his 
intentions were only to trade in beaver skins, although 
his real purpose was to explore the mines in this coun- 
try, which he had discovered some years before. He then 
presented them with some powder, balls, knives, and 
tobacco, and invited them to come to his fort, as soon as 
it was constructed, and he Avould tell them the intention 
of the king his master. The Scioux of the West have, 
according to the accounts of those of the East, more than 



V THE EXPLORATION OP^ THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 167 

a tliousand huts. They do not use canoes or cultivate 
the land, but wander in the prairies between the upper 
]Mississij)pi and the Missouri, and live by hunting. All 
the Scioux say they have three souls, and that after death 
the good one goes to a warm country, the bad one to a 
cold country, and the third watches the body. They are 
very expert with their bows. Polygamy is very common 
among them. They are extremely jealous, and some- 
times fight duels for their wives. They make their huts 
out of buffalo skins, sewed together, and carry them with 
them. Two or three families generally live together. 
They are great smokers. They swallow the smoke, but 
some time after they force it up from their stomach 
through their nose. . . . On the 1st of December they 
invited M. Le Sueur to a great feast which they had 
prepared for him. They made a speech, and presented 
him with a slave and a sack of oats." ^ 

For a long time to come nothing more was added to 
the knowledge of the French regarding the upper course 
of the Mississippi and the surrounding country. Traders 
and missionaries continued to make frequent visits to the 
regions which Dnluth, Hennepin, Perrot, and Le Sueur 
had explored, but they only traversed territory already 
more or less familiar. In 1703 the cartographer Delisle 
published a map of the upper Mississippi, based on the 
reports of the explorers named, and also on Indian tales 
which were transmitted to him througli the same channels. 
On this map the source of the Mississippi was put at tlie 

1 Quoted from Le Sueur's "Journal " in La Harpe, " Historical Journal 
of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana." Printed in Frencii, 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part III. \9-2S passim. 



168 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, v 

parallel 49°, in a swampy district where there was a net- 
work of lakes and connecting streams. Three of these 
lakes were shown, from which the river was said to take 
its beginning. For more than three-quarters of a cen- 
tury this conception was the generally prevailing one. 
As late as 1782 it involved in confusion the settlement of 
boundaries by the negotiators of the treaty of peace 
between the United States and Great Britain. There 
were, of course, not a few variations, such as that of the 
Dutch geographer Schenck, who carried the source of the 
stream as far north as 55° ; but, as Justin Winsor 
facetiously remarks, there was about as little warrant for 
these "as the French traders wandering among the upper 
Sioux had when they detected Chinese sounds in the 
savage gutturals." For that matter, any seventeenth or 
eighteenth century attempt to fix definitely the source of 
the Mississippi must have been subject to liberal revision. 
As yet, conjecture and Indian representations served 
instead of actual exploration to determine ideas on the 
subject. It remained until comparatively late in the 
nineteenth century for the maze of waterways of north- 
ern Minnesota to be sufficiently untangled to establish 
clearly the exact spot where the great river starts on its 
twenty-five-hundred-mile course to the Gulf. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 

AS the seventeenth century drew to a close there came 
a succession of events in Europe which went far 
toward shaping the destiny of the Mississippi Valley. 
Chief among these was the English Revolution of 1688- 
1689. The last two Stuarts — Charles II. and James II. — 
were pensioners of the French court, and had persistently 
refused to allow England to be embroiled in conflict with 
the Bourbon monarchy. The bold aggressions of Louis 
XIV. on the continent were more or less secretly connived 
at, and French colonial aggrandizement in foreign lands, 
chiefly America, was scrupulously respected. With the 
accession of William of Orange in 1689, however, all was 
changed. The man who for years had been the hope of 
Europe in resisting the imperial ambitions of the French 
king now became the sovereign of a people already long 
desirous of engaging on the side of the Dutch and Ger- 
mans against King Louis. The deposition of the Stuarts 
cleared the way for England to step boldly forth as the 
unquestioned leader of the opposition. William III. as 
king of England meant inevitable and immediate war 
between the English and the French. 

The struggle which began in 1689 in the War of the 
Palatinate may be regarded as having lasted almost pre- 
cisely a century and a quarter. Professor Seeley in his 

169 



170 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Expansion of England has well termed this long deadly 
contest a second Hundred Years' War. Not, of course, 
that fighting was continuous during all the period ; there 
were many decades during which not a blow was struck 
and one time of peace which lasted more than twenty-five 
years. From this point of view the conflict may be con- 
sidered a series of outbreaks of hostility, of quite unequal 
length and severity, opening with the War of the Palati- 
nate, 1689-1697, known in America as King William's War, 
and closing with the great Napoleonic War from 1803 to 
1815. But in a very real sense the struggle was continu- 
ous from the capture of French Port Royal by Sir William 
Phips and his Massachusetts fleet in 1690 to the final over- 
throw of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. Whatever the 
conditions giving immediate occasion to the successive 
conflicts of the series, — whether Louis's devastation of the 
Palatinate, Frederick the Great's aggressions in Austria, 
or Napoleon's threatened consolidation of Europe, — so 
far as England and France were concerned the underlying 
cause of them all was the perennial rivalry of the two 
powers for colonial empire. From this it followed that 
the French and English fought, not merely on the battle- 
fields of Europe and on the high seas, but also in whatever 
part of the globe their peoples came in contact. The out- 
break of war in Europe was the unfailing signal for the 
renewal of hostilities in the colonies in both India and 
America. Altogether the struggle was one such as the 
world had rarely, if ever, witnessed. When it was little 
more than half over (treaty of Paris, 1763), France had 
lost and England liad won. Thereafter the energies of 
the former power were directed toward the recovery of 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 171 

that which had been lost, and those of the latter toward 
the maintenance of that which had been gained. 

From the year 1689 the story of the Mississippi country 
must be considered in the setting just indicated. La Salle's 
descent of the Mississippi occurred just seven years before 
the opening scene in that great drama of the nations, and 
his death came two years too early to allow him actually 
to witness it. But the ardent explorer had been far too 
shrewd not to foresee in a large measure what was com- 
ing. No one understood better than he the meaning of 
the slow, steady, substantial advance of the Anglo-Saxon 
along the Atlantic seaboard. No one detected more 
quickly than he the signs of Anglo-Saxon ambition in the 
direction of the Mississippi. It was because of this, as 
mucli as for personal reasons, that he had so strongly 
urged upon the French ministry the wisdom of an early 
colonization of Louisiana. Already by the time of the ill- 
fated settlement at Fort St. Louis, the Indians were pass- 
ing the word westward from tribe to tribe that a new race 
of " pale faces," neither Spanish nor French, was making 
its appearance in the person of traders and adventurers on 
the western slopes of the Alleghanies. It was folly to 
hope that the French claim to so extensive and magnifi- 
cent a region as Louisiana would long remain uncontested. 
La Salle met his death in a futile attempt to establish a 
pioneer stronghold at the mouth of the great river he had 
explored, but not before he had pointed out the policy by 
which alone his country could be assured of permanent 
[)restige in the interior of America. 

During the decade which followed La Salle's death, noth- 
ing further in the way of colonization on the Mississippi 



172 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

was attempted. Louis was busy with his European wars, 
and the man who was eventually to take up La Salle's 
work and carry it to a successful conclusion was still 
occupied with the English-French controversies in the 
Hudson Bay region. As a trade route from the interior, 
however, the Mississippi was rapidly gaining at the ex- 
pense of the St. Lawrence. With one exception, all the 
royal orders of the time recognized the Mississippi as the 
only legitimate route from the Illinois and Lake Superior 
country to the sea. That exception was a special grant 
made to Tonty in 1699, allowing him to send two canoes 
and twelve men yearly from the St. Lawrence to his head- 
quarters at Starved Rock on the Illinois. Even this privi- 
lege was withdrawn three years later, and Tonty was 
compelled to direct his energies toward the south. So 
far as trade with Europe was concerned, the Mississippi 
route was unquestionably the better one. The portages 
by which the Great Lakes were reached, while not long, 
were extremely annoying, and traffic by these northern 
passages was exceedingly slow and expensive. 

In December, 1697, a Memoir written by Sieur de 
Remonville, a friend of La Salle, appeared in Paris urging 
upon the government the importance of colonizing Louisi- 
ana.^ This paper, setting forth in glowing terms as it did 
the natural beauties and resources of the country, and de- 
picting the greediness of both the Spanish and the English 
to possess it, made a strong impression popularly, and 
stirred the court to renewed activity. Some years earlier 

1 Margry, Decouvertes et J^tablissemonts des Franrais, IV. 19-43. 
The "Memoir" is translated in French, Historical Collections of Louisi- 
ana, New Series, I. 1-10. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 173 

Tonty had asked permission to follow up the discoveries 
of La Salle about the Mississippi's mouth, and only two 
months before the publication of the Memoir Sieur de 
Louvigny had proposed the establishment of a colony in 
the same region as a base of operations against the Spanish 
in Mexico,^ but both offers had been ignored by the gov- 
ernment. " I begin by telling you," wrote the minister 
of marine to a certain M. Ducasse, governor of St. 
Domingo, April 8, 1699, "that the king does not intend 
at present to form an establishment at the mouth of the 
Mississippi, but only to complete the discovery in order 
to hinder the English from taking possession there." ^ 
Now, however, that De Remonville was telling of a rumor 
that William Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania, had 
already despatched fifty men to found a settlement on the 
Wabash, as a step preliminary to an advance upon the 
Mississippi, even Louis and his ministers felt that the time 
for more decisive action on their part had come. " Al- 
though the route is long and difficult," wrote De Remon- 
ville, " the English, who are not easily discouraged when 
the subject of extending their commerce is in question, 
will, without doubt, surmount all difficulties, if time is 
given them." An English colony might well have to be 
counterbalanced by a French one. Doubtless the king 
was the more easily inclined to this view by the fact that 
the peace of Ryswick had recently brought a respite 
from both his European and colonial wars. 

De Remonville's Memoir was addressed to Louis de 

^ Margry, Decoicoertes et lUablissements des Franr.ais, IV. 9-18. 
2 Ibid., 294. Quoted in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of 
America, V. 13. 



174 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Phelypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, minister of marine. 
It so happened tliat just before its receipt Pontchar- 
train's sou and successor, Jerome, had been considering an 
appeal from Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, asking the 
government's aid in a colonizing project in lower Louisi- 
ana. ^ Although the king had at first been disposed to 
turn a deaf ear toward the suppliant, the revelations of 
De Remonville and the enthusiasm of the petitioner did 
not fail of effect upon him. " The grandeur of the scheme," 
says one writer, " began to attract his attention. It was 
clear that the French had not only anticipated the English 
in getting possession of the upper waters of the great river, 
but their boats had navigated its current from source to 
mouth. If they could establish themselves at its entrance, 
and were able to control its navigation, they could hold 
the whole valley. Associated with these thoughts were 
hopes of mines in the distant regions of the upper Missis- 
sippi which might contribute to France wealth equal to 
that which Spain had drawn from Mexico. Visions of 
pearl-fisheries in the Gulf, and wild notions as to the value 
of buffalo-wool, aided Iberville in his task of convincing 
the court of the advantages to be derived from his pro- 
posed voyage." 2 The outcome was that he was specially 
commissioned by the government to execute the plana in 
which La Salle had failed. 

Iberville was the eldest son of a burgher of Dieppe, 
Charles Le Moyne, who in 1641 had come to Canada to 

' Iberville's letter to Pontchartrain. June 18, 1608, outlining his plan, is 
printed in Margry, Deconvorten et I^tablissements des Franrais. IV. 51-57. 

2 Andrew McFarland Davis in Winsor, Narrative, and Critical History 
of America, V. 15. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 175 

cast in his fortunes with the Jesuits. Until the time of 
his petition in the interest of the proposed Louisiana col- 
ony, Iberville and his youngest brother Bienville had been 
leaders in the French conflict with the English on the St. 
Lawrence and in the Hudson Bay region. ^ hi the winter 
of 1694-1695, and again in 1697, we encounter the elder 
brother at the head of very successful expeditions sent 
out from Quebec against the English forts on Hudson 
Bay. It was the treaty of Ryswick, which closed the war 
of King William in 1697, that took from him his business 
and caused him to turn his attention toward a new field. 

Late in 1697 Iberville repaired to France to make ready 
his expedition to Loijisiana. A company of two hundred 
soldiers and colonists — men, women, and children — was 
speedily gathered at Rochelle, comprising on the whole 
much better pioneer material than La Salle's company thir- 
teen years before.^ Among those who chose to be identified 
with the new undertaking was Father Anastasius Douay, 
who was one of the survivors of La Salle's unfortunate 
colony, and was able therefore to bring to the enterprise 
some very valuable knowledge concerning the lands border- 
ing the Gulf. Two ships were obtained, the Badine and 
the Marin^ and lest they should be attacked by English or 
Spanish buccaneers they were to be convoyed through 
American waters by the Franpois, a vessel of fifty guns. 
The start was made from Brest, October 21, 1698. ^ St. 

1 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, IV. 161, 226, 239, 243. 

2 Letter of Iberville to I'ontcliartrain, June 18, 1098, in Margry, De- 
convenes et thnhUssements des Fran(^nis, IV. 58-62. Iberville's instruc- 
tions are in Margry, IV. 12-1k). 

^ The main sources of information on the expeditions of Iberville are 
as follows : (1) the " Relation "' of Penicaut, a carpenter who remained 



176 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Domingo was reached December 4. Here the expedition 
halted to obtain rest and refreshment and await the arrival 
of the tenders carrying provisions and other supplies.^ 
January 1, 1699, the voyage was resumed, and in three 
weeks the coast of the mainland was reached in the vicin- 
ity of the island of St. Rosa, just below Pensacola. The 
distant fort, recently established by three hundred Span- 
iards from Vera Cruz, was sighted, but entrance to the har- 
bor was forbidden by the governor. ^ Perhaps the French 
did not greatly care to tarry there, since they would cer- 
tainly have been asked some rather embarrassing questions 
with reference to their purpose in seeking the waters of 

in Louisiana until 1721. Tliis is published iu Margry, Deconvertes et 
Etahlissements des Fran(^ais, V. 375-586, and in translation in French, 
Historical Collections of Louisiaiia, New Series, I. 35-175 ; (2) the 
"Narrative" of Iberville in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 19-31, and Iberville's letters and reports in Margry, IV, 
passim; (3) the Journal Historique de V Etahlissement des Fram-ais a la 
Louisiane, attributed to Benard de La Harpe, but evidently a compila- 
tion [Paris, 1831]; (4) a " Memoir" attributed with doubtful correctness 
to Georges Marie Butel Dumont, printed in French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, V. 1-122 ; (5) Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, 
Histoire et description f/enerale de la Nouvelle France, translated by J. 
G. Shea, in six vols. ; (6) M. de Sauvole, "Journal Historique de r;fetab- 
lissement des Fran^ais k la Louisiane," in French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, III. 223-240 ; and (7) Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la 
Louisiane. Du Pratz was in the Louisiana colony from 1718 to 1734. 
Modern accounts are in Monette, History of the 3Iississippi Valley, I. 
Ch. v.; King and Ficklen, History of Louisiana, 26-86; Hamilton, 
Colonial 3fobile, Chs. VI.-XII. ; W. G. Brown, History of Alabama, 
Ch. II.; Gayarre, History of Louisiana, I. 30-115; and Martin, History 
of Louisiana, I. Ch. VII. 

1 Letter of Ducasse to Pontchartrain, January 13, 1699, in Margry, 
Decouvertes et Etahlissements des Frani^ais, IV. 92-95. 

2 Penicaut and other French authorities state that Pensacola had 
been established only a few months, though the Spaniard Barcia, in his 
Ensayo cronologico (p. 316), says it was founded in 1696. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 177 

the Gulf. Before the departure from Rochelle rumors 
had been rife that an expedition was being litted out in 
London for the purpose of establishing a colony of French 
Protestants on tlie lower Mississippi. Iberville had warned 
Fontchartrain of the fact, and had asked that he be " in- 
structed " to proceed to the mouth of the Amazon so that, 
if challenged by the English at sea, he could produce evi- 
dence which would deceive them into thinking that the 
French were intending merely to invade Spanish territory. 
Although provided with papers for this purpose, it was 
clearly understood by all parties concerned witli the expe- 
dition that the mouth of the Mississippi was to be sought, 
and some spot commanding it to be fortified. No other 
nation was to be permitted at any hazard to effect a settle- 
ment there. 

From Pensacola the ships were directed westward 
along the Gulf coast on their hundred-and-fifty-mile 
sail to the mouth of the Mississippi. Mobile Bay was 
passed, January 31, and Ship Island, about eighteen 
miles southeast of modern Mississippi City, was arrived 
at ten days later. This island is one of a series which 
runs parallel with the general trend of the coast at a 
distance of from ten to thirty miles out, and encloses a 
sound which affords safe anchorage for smaller craft. 
Huts were erected on the island, and Iberville, fearing 
that he might pass the river's mouth in the way that 
La Salle was supposed to have done, determined to make 
careful search along the neighboring shores for the 
desired haven. Three-fourths of the colonists remained 
on the island while the rest accompanied their chief. 
Soon the Pascagoula River was discovered, and from a 



178 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

wandering band of Bayagoula Indians it was learned 
that the " great river " was only a little farther west.^ 
Guided by this information, and also by the driftwood 
and turbid waters which everywhere abounded, Iberville, 
with his brother Bienville and forty-eight other men, 
sought the mouth of the main stream, which they entered 
successfully, March 2.^ They were thus the first French- 
men to enter the river from the sea. 

Ascending its broad waters, the voyagers continued 
their explorations past the present site of New Orleans, 
and reached the village of the Bayagoulas, just below 
the river which has since been named in honor of the 
leader of this expedition. Here the party was enter- 
tained right royally with a feast and a liberal exchange 
of presents. When the chief of the tribe asserted that 
the blue serge cloak which he wore had been given him 
by a Frenchman named Tonty, the explorers were much 
more confident that the river on which they were was 
really the Mississippi. Observation of the lands and 
peoples along the stream verified Membre's narrative 
of La Salle's voyage in 1682, though it very naturally 
did not altogether square with the account given in 
Hennepin's Nouvelle Decouverte recently published in 
Paris. The crafty friar had necessarily done his filch- 

1 Margry, Decouvertes et ^tahUsscments des Franrais, IV. 155. 

2 The number of men is uncertain. Iberville himself states it in one 
place as thirty-three and in another as forty-eiglit. Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History of America, V. 17. Charlevoix says that Iberville 
sought the Mississippi with " the Sieur de Sauvole, ensign on a vessel of 
the line, his ovrn brother De Bienville, a midsliipman, a Kecollect Father, 
forty-eight men on two Biscayennes, and provisions for twenty days." 
Shea, Charlevoix^ s History of New France, V. 120. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS UF LOUISIANA 179 

ing without much discernment, and had ruined every- 
thing by his occasional attempts to eLaborate upon his 
material. Iberville's men confirmed the suspicion which 
not a few cartographers in Europe were beginning to 
cherish — that Hennepin's " narrative " was a wholly ficti- 
tious one. 

Whether, as Bancroft held, Iberville ascended the 
Mississippi to the mouth of the Red — a distance of 
some two hundred miles, as the crow flies — cannot now 
be known definitely. ^ At any rate, his return to the Gulf 
was by a slightly different route. Acting on the advice 
of the Indians, it was decided that four of the party 
should leave the main stream about the vicinity of 
Baton Rouge and make their way back to the sea by a 
watercourse more to the east. This company was led 
by Iberville himself. Descending by way of the bayou 
Iberville, it passed through Lakes Maurepas and Pont- 
chartrain to the bay which was henceforth known as 
St. Louis. 

The main division of the band, under command of 
Bienville, followed the route by which the stream had 
been ascended. While in the region near the Red, 
Iberville had been told by the natives of a chief near 
the mouth of the " great water " who possessed a letter, 
or "speaking bark," left in his keeping by Tonty many 
years before. On the return voyage Bienville spared 
no effort to find this missive, which if found would be 
an incontestible proof that the river was indeed no 
other than the Mississippi. In the vicinity of the lower 

1 Bancroft, History of the United States [Centenary edition], II. 
364. 



180 THE OPENING OE THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

delta a proclamation was issued offering a hatchet to the 
Indian who should produce the desired document. The 
plan was effective, and in a little time the letter was in 
Bienville's hands. It was found to have been written 
fifteen years before, when its author had been on the 
point of turning to ascend the Mississippi after an in- 
effectual search for La Salle's supposed colony at the 
river's mouth. The Indian who had faithfully preserved 
it all these years had been instructed by Tonty to deliver 
it to the first Frenchman who should enter the river. 
La Salle, of course, had never appeared there, yet curi- 
ously enough Tonty's instructions were quite literally 
executed. 1 

Bienville reached Ship Island only a few hours after 
Iberville. Tonty's letter was produced, and called forth 
a general expression of assurance that the colonists were 
really in the region they had set out to seek. It was 
also reported that Sauvole, another brother of Iberville,^ 
had marked off a spot on the east bank of the river 
about twenty-five leagues above its mouth, sufficiently 
elevated to be above the overflow, and therefore well 
adapted for the establishing of a colony. This site, 
not immediately taken possession of, became ultimately 
the location of the city of New Orleans. 

Upon returning to Ship Island after his six weeks' 
exploring tour, Iberville at once began preparations for 
the intended settlement. One of the ships had already 

1 The letter is quoted in part in Margry, Decoitvertes et iStablissements 
cles Fran<;ais, IV. 190. 

2 Hamilton in his Colonial Mobile, 32, doubts this relationship though 
it is affirmed by Gayarrfi, History of Louisiana, I. 58. 



vj THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 181 

returned to France, and the other was awaiting leave to 
go. The permanent location of the colony must be 
speedily determined, else the settlers would be left with 
no means of transporting their cannon and other heavy 
equipment from the island. Careful search along the 
shore of Mississippi Sound failed to reveal any very de- 
sirable situation, but it was finally decided that the col- 
ony should be established at the head of the little bay 
of Biloxi. A greater mistake could hardly have been 
made. The colonists were simply set down on the burn- 
ing, barren sand, where agriculture was impossible and 
comfortable living equally out of the question. It would 
have been far better, as the event proved, if the colony 
had been established farther inland, where there were 
better soil, water supply, and sanitary conditions, as 
would have been the case on the site which Sauvole had 
marked off. But Iberville wished the settlement to be 
just as near the mouth of the river as the flood season 
would allow, and an inland town, he thought, would be in 
greater danger of attack by the Indians. 

At the head of Biloxi Bay, therefore, within the limits 
of the present state of Alabama, was erected a stronghold 
with four bastions and twelve cannon, surrounded by a 
nine-foot palisade, known as Fort Maurepas, to serve as 
a visible token of French jurisdiction all the way from 
the Rio del Norte to the Spanish outpost at Pensacola.^ 
The settlement itself was called Biloxi, and included at 

1 Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 32. Tlie fort was named in honor of 
Count Maurepas, a son of the younger I'ontchartrain. See a lively sketch 
of this notable member of Louis XIV.'s official family in Gayarre, His- 
tory of Louisiana, I. 43-49. 



182 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the outset, besides the soldiery, just ninety people. Those 
who did not belong to the garrison built their little huts 
close under the fortification, sacrificing all consideration 
of comfort to that of safety. After the guns, forges, and 
heavy stores had been laboriously transferred by ferry 
from Ship Island, and a sufficient number of houses had 
been built to accommodate the people, Iberville prepared 
to return to France to secure further governmental sup- 
port for his enterprise. Sauvole was placed in charge of 
the colony, with Bienville, still a mere lad of eighteen, as 
deputy. May 3, 1699, the Badine and the Marin sailed 
from Ship Island. During the voyage Iberville busied 
himself with the preparation of a report to be presented to 
Pontchartrain.i In it he dealt in a most merciless manner 
with Hennepin, declaring that such suffering and lack of 
success as the expedition had incurred had been due to 
the time spent in fruitless search for things which had no 
existence except in the lying Recollect's imagination. 

From the beginning the colony at Biloxi utterly failed 
to prosper. Even before Iberville had left, some renegade 
Spaniards had fired the Frenchmen's imaginations with a 
description of the gold and other treasure to be found in 
lands lying off to the west. The settlers were far from 
industrious, though it must be said that their location 
rendered industry all but useless. The heat was oppres- 
sive, the water nauseating, food scarce and of poor quality. 
A score of Canadians, who had been ministering to the 
Taensas and Tonicas in the region of the Arkansas, made 
their way down the Mississippi and joined the colony ; 

1 This report, dated July 3, 1699, is printed in Frencli, Historical Col- 
lections of Louisia)i(X, New Series, I. 19-31. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 188 

but as they brought no supplies they were hardly a wel- 
come addition. 

The summer of 1699 was spent by Bienville in explor- 
ing the network of streams comprising the delta. One 
day, about the middle of September, he was surprised to 
encounter an English vessel of twelve or fifteen guns com- 
manded by a Captain Barr ^ whose acquaintance he had 
already made in the Hudson Bay country. This ship was 
one of two wliich had been sent out by Daniel Coxe, a 
New Jersey proprietor, for the purpose of exploring the 
Mississippi's mouth and ascertaining the navigable pas- 
sages to the interior. After a series of transfers the 
patent of " Carolana," first issued by Charles I. to Sir 
Robert Heath in 1627, had recently fallen into the posses- 
sion of Coxe. This patent conferred the proprietorship 
of the Carolina coasts between parallels 31° and 36°, to- 
gether with " all the lands lying westward to the sea. " In 
more recent times it had been understood by the holders of 
the patent tliat the Spanish possessions at St. Augustine and 
in New Mexico were to be exempted, but no attention had 
been given to conflicting French claims in the region of 
the Mississippi. Coxe determined to found a state in the 
remoter parts of his domain, and had made public a scheme 
for securing it financially by organizing a stock company 
with eight thousand shares at five pounds each.^ As a 

1 The name is sometimes given as Bank. Winsor, The Mississippi 
Basin, 45. 

- See Coxe's " Description of the English Province of Carolana, by tho 
Spaniards called Florida, and by the French La Louisiane," in French, 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, II. 223-276. The "Description" 
was compiled from memoirs and journals placed in Coxe's hands by his 
agents sent intu the Mississippi Valley. 



184 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

beginning of the enterprise he had fitted out two armed 
vessels in 1698 and started them for the lower Mississippi. 
A company of French Huguenots and Englishmen had 
been sent with the expedition to found the proposed col- 
ony, but a halt having been made at Charleston, the pro- 
spective colonists concluded not to go farther, so that but 
one ship, with only crew enough to manage it, actually 
reached the intended destination. The point in the river 
where the vessel was met by the French is still known 
as the English Turn. It is eighteen miles below New 
Orleans. Captain Barr was not greatly interested in the 
mission on which he had been sent, and readily assented 
to the French claim of prior possession set up by Bien- 
ville, though he intimated that he might sometime be seen 
again upon the river. The story that Bienville boldly 
deceived the English captain by telling him that the Mis- 
sissippi was still farther west and that the French already 
had a chain of settlements along the stream he was then 
exploring may be true, but evidence is very unsatisfac- 
tory.^ Nothing of importance came of the incident, but 
it was regarded by the French as of weighty significance 
in confirming suspicion of English territorial designs in 
the Mississippi Valley. Since in England King William 
was declaring in council that he would " leap over twenty 
stumbling-blocks rather than not effect a settlement on 
the banks of the Mississippi," it is clear that such sus- 

1 In most of the popular histories it is stated without mention of its 
doubtful character ; as in Gay, Bryant's History of the United States, II. 
523, and Maurice Thompson, Story of Louisiana, 30. It is based on the 
so-called La Harpe journal, French, Historical CvUections of Louisiana, 
III. 17, and a statement in Fran§ois-Xavier Martin's History of Louisi- 
ana, 149. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 185 

picion was not without coiiiiderable reason. In 1722 a 
son of Coxe, who had inherited "• Carohma," and was try- 
ing to induce emigration thither, published journals and 
maps in which the claim was made that his father's ship, 
commanded by Captain Barr, had been the first sea-going 
vessel to enter the Mississippi, and that therefore the 
English should be deemed the discoverers and rightful 
possessors of the river. The first part of the claim was 
probably well founded, but the second was manifestly 
absurd. Surely the French title was not vitiated by the 
fact that La Salle and Iberville had navigated the lower 
Mississippi in mere boats rather than in " ships." 

Iberville returned to his colony December 7, 1699, — 
not a day too soon, for fever and famine had left but 150 
of the colonists and soldiers alive, and these were almost 
ready for desertion or mutiny. He brought a wel- 
come supply of provisions and 60 new settlers, and was 
armed with a commission to ascertain by exploration 
what "furs, ores, pearls, etc." were to be obtained in 
Louisiana, and to find out whether silk might be profit- 
ably grown there. ^ Early in the next year a party includ- 
ing Iberville and the geologist Le Sueur again made an 
ascent of the Mississippi. Hearing of the English visit 
to the vicinity, Iberville was determined to establish 
another base of resistance to such aggressions. On a 
[)lot of higher ground, about fifty-four miles from the 
Gulf, and about half as far south fi-om the site of New 



1 Iberville's instructions for this second stage of his Louisiana enter- 
prise are given in Margry, Decouvertcs et iStahUssementa cIps Franrais, 
IV. 348-354. Iberville's journal of the expedition is in Margry, IV. 
395-431. 



186 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Orleans, Fort La Boulaye was built. ^ It was to be 
garrisoned by a company of men under command of 
Bienville. In February, while work on the palisades 
was still in progress, Tonty surprised the laborers by 
suddenly appearing with several canoes of peltry which 
he had gathered on a trading expedition among the 
Arkansas. 2 A few weeks later Le Sueur set out upon 
his trip up the Mississippi to search for " green earth " 
in the Minnesota country. The results of this venture 
have been told in the preceding chapter. 

After the departure of Le Sueur, Iberville followed 
leisurely up the Mississippi, with the intention of visiting 
the Taensas and other peoples of whom Tonty told. 
From the Bayagoulas he obtained the startling informa- 
tion that the Chickasaws were securing firearms from 
the English. He heard, too, that Le Sueur had encoun- 
tered a Carolina trader at the mouth ®f the Arkansas. 
It was coming to be so that at every turn the Frenchmen 
in the West were confronted with additional evidence 
that a great conflict was brewing. By the establishments 
at Biloxi and La Boulaye the French had committed 
themselves irrevocably to a policy of colonization on the 
Mississippi. While King Louis long remained com- 
paratively indifferent, the broader views of his ministers 

1 At the foot of a leaden cross erected near the fort was affixed a leaden 
plate bearing the inscription : — 

D. O. M. 
The French first came here from Canada under M. de La Salle, 

1682. From the same place, under M. de Tonty, in 1685. 

From the Sea Coast, under M. d'Iberville, in 1700, and planted 

Tins Cross Feb. 14, 1700. 

~ Margry, Decouvertes et iStabUssements des Fran^-ais, IV. o64. 



vr THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 187 

and the greater enthusiasm of the merchant class assured 
the permanency of the plan. But the English were 
hardly less vigilant and active. Though more than half 
a century was yet to elapse before their great swarming 
from the seaboard colonies across the Alleghanies into the 
Ohio and lower Mississippi valleys, already their advance 
agents were trading, exploring, and threatening in all the 
eastern half of Louisiana.^ 

When Iberville's party reached the Red River, Bien- 
ville made a detour along the course of that stream to 
ascertain whether the Indian reports of Spanish settle- 
ments on its banks were well founded. Nothing of a 
corroborative nature was discovered, although on account 
of the swamps and unusual wetness of the spring season 
it was not possible to explore as far as had been intended. ^ 

On the day that Bienville started up the Red River, 
Iberville began the return from the country of the 
Natchez to Biloxi. He was confident, without exploring 
fartlier, that the Mississippi Valley possessed abundant 
resources, and that the French claim to it must be main- 
tained at all hazards. Feeling that he could accomplish 
more in the role of petitioner at the court than in that 
of explorer, he again sailed for France, late in May, 1700, 
leaving Sauvole and Bienville in charge of the colony.^ 

iln Iberville's report to Pontchartrain, September 7, 1700, particular 
stress is laid on the increasing danger from the English. Margry, IV. 
370-377. 

2 Interesting passages from Bienville's journal of this expedition appear 
in Grace King, Sicur de Bienville, Ch. VIII. The journal is printed in 
Margry, IV. 432-448. 

3 Iberville's instructions to Sauvole, May 20), 1700, in Margry, Decou- 
vertes et tUnhlisscments des Frani^ais, IV. 462-466. 



188 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Meanwhile the Mississippi as a trade route continued 
to grow in favor. The transfer of Father Pinet's mission, 
in the autumn of 1700, from old Kaskaskia on the Illinois 
to the site of the modern town of that name on the 
peninsula between the Kaskaskia River and the Missis- 
sippi, greatly facilitated commerce by providing an excel- 
lent place of deposit and exchange. Kaskaskia speedily 
became the most important intermediate point in the 
traffic of the French up and down the river. The growth 
of the Mississippi trade was further encouraged by Gov- 
ernor Calliere's execution of the king's order to reduce 
the number of posts in the Great Lake region so as to 
lessen the expense of garrisons. The bushrangers turned 
to Kaskaskia, and other settlements which soon grew up, 
for markets, and the Louisiana colony profited in pro- 
portion. 

Soon after Iberville's departure for France, in 1700, 
Biloxi was visited by Don Francisco Martin, the Spanish 
governor of Pensacola. He came to enter protest against 
the French settlements on the lower Mississippi. The 
entire Gulf shore, from Mexico to Florida, he said, 
belonged of right to the Spaniards, and they could not 
be expected to stand idly by and see their territory 
wedged apart by French colonial ambition. This was 
but a threat, yet it furnished another reason for. 
grave concern on part of those who had the projects 
of France in Louisiana at heart. Danger from the 
Spanish seemed even more imminent than from the 
English. On the return voyage to Pensacola, however, 
the governor's ships were wrecked, and such of the 
crews as survived were compelled to make their way 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 189 

back to Biloxi as best they could in the humiliating 
r61e of suppliants.^ 

While in Paris, during the years 1700 and 1701, Iber- 
ville was urged by the court officials to undertake the 
conquest of those parts of Spanish America Avhich were 
contiguous with Louisiana, both on the east and west. 
He readily agreed that this policy was a wise one, but 
declared that the government should first make the 
French position on the lower Mississippi more secure 
by sending additional settlers, cannon, ammunition, and 
general supplies. Iberville seems always to have been 
really more interested in repelling the English than the 
Spanish. He returned to the colony in December, 1701,^ 
but only for a few weeks, hastening back to Europe the 
following March. When he came to the colony it was 
to find it on the point of being moved from Biloxi to the 
head of Mobile Bay. The climatic conditions at Biloxi 
were threatening to exterminate the settlers unless some 
such change was made. Sauvole had been numbered 
among the victims of the fever epidemic of the previous 
summer, and Bienville had been called from La Boulaye 
to assume charge of the older post. The surviving colo- 
nists at both places were in a wretched condition.^ Instead 

^In Margry, Decouvertes et ^tablissements des Fran^ais, IV. 539- 
582, there is an extensive collection of letters, memoirs, and other docu- 
ments pertaining to the rivalry of the Spanish and French on the Gulf 
coast during the years 1700-1702. Especially important are Iberville's 
memoirs on the English, Spanish, and French interests about the Gulf, 
the Spanish Junta's memoir, and Pontchartrain's reply to the representa- 
tions of the Junta. 

2 Documents relative to Iberville's third expedition to Louisiana are 
printed in Margry, IV. 482-523 passim. 

8 In 1700 Father James Gravier, one of the first Jesuit missionaries 



190 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of attempting to better their state by agriculture, they 
engaged ahnost solely in fishing, hunting, and fitting out 
expeditions for the discovery of mines. All the time 
important explorations were being made in the great 
region now occupied by the states of Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee ; but interesting 
as were the results, they scarcely operated to make the 
lot of the settlers more endurable. Submitting to the 
inevitable, Iberville formally authorized the abandonment 
of Biloxi, though he remained in America no longer than 
was necessary simply to see the new location at Mobile 
occupied. Along with his discouraging description of 
conditions in lower Louisiana he carried back to France 
bad news also from the upper Mississippi country, — Le 
Sueur's settlement at Fort d'Huillier on the Green River 
had been attacked by the Indians and completely broken 
up. Hoping that the recital of these reverses would stir 
the ministry to greater activity in behalf of Louisiana, 
Iberville, in the spring of 1702, again presented himself at 
court. 

But the indefatigable colonizer's career was nearing an 
end. When, in the summer of 1703, he had his affairs in 
shape again to go to America, he found himself too worn 
by his labors to do so. He lived three years longer, and 
grew strong enough again to command a fleet in an 
expedition to drive the English from the West Indies. 
But it was while engaged in this enterprise that death 
overtook him, July 9, 1706, at Havana. He did not see 

among the Illinois, made a voyage down the Mississippi and visited the 
French settlements at its mouth. His description of their condition is in 
Shea, Earlij Voyages up and doion the Mississippi, 152-162. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 191 

his colon}' after 1702. Although his interest in its wel- 
fare never flagged, probably his disheartenment at the 
ministry's shortsightedness and parsimony made him feel 
that there was nothing more which lie could do. In 1703 
Pontchartrain had made him " Commander of the Colony 
of the jNIississippi," ^ but as the appointment carried with 
it no material concessions, such as would aid in develop- 
ing the resources of the colony, the recipient regarded it 
as little less than mockery. Bienville continued in com- 
mand until 1708, and under his direction the original 
settlements were all transferred to Mobile. 

Iberville belonged to that extremely limited class of 
men, headed by La Salle, whose wide experience and per- 
sonal observation enabled them to foresee the trend of 
subsequent events in the great American interior. For a 
time after La Salle's death Iberville seems almost alone 
to have discerned the essential weakness of the French 
colonial policy. Over and over again he attempted to 
demonstrate to the court that the agriculturist and not 
the hunter, nor even the trader, must be chiefly favored 
if the French were to resist successfully the advancing 
Englishman. In his opinion French possession of Canada 
and Louisiana could be maintained only by developing 
a numerous population in these regions — a population 
not of coureurs-de-bois and transient gold-seekers, but of 
farmers and artisans permanently attaclied to the soil. 
It was in this way that the English had made sure their 
hold upon the Atlantic seaboard, and it was in this way 
that they were certain sometime to contend for the 
valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. But at the dis- 
1 Margry, Decouvertes et I'Uahlissemeiits drs Fraurais, IV, 632. 



192 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

tance of Paris the situation was viewed under distorted 
aspects. The aggressions of the English were minimized 
and affairs closer home were deemed of greater impor- 
tance. It was only when, half a century later, France 
found herself stripped of all her American dominion that 
she saw fully the wisdom of Iberville's advice and the 
folly, as a recent writer has put it, of " sacrificing an 
imperial future in pursuing the phantom of an imperial 
present." ^ 

Meanwhile the base of the colony was shifted from the 
inhospitable Biloxi, which, however, was not entirely 
abandoned, to Mobile Bay. Iberville's earlier explora- 
tions in the latter region had revealed its fertility and 
healthfulness, and there are reasons for thinking that when 
a change became inevitable, it was he who selected the new 
location. 2 The Spaniards at Pensacola protested against 
the removal because it brought their rivals several leagues 
nearer, but threats were without effect and the order for 
the evacuation of Biloxi was definitely issued, December 
17, 1701. The exact site of the new settlement — Fort 
St. Louis, as it was called — has been much disputed. 
Probably the truth has been arrived at b}' Mr. Peter J. 
Hamilton who, on the basis of Iberville's journal, the 
account by Penicaut, Indian tradition, and physical re- 
mains, has fixed the location at the Twenty-seven Mile 
Bluff, on the right bank of the Mobile River, about fifty 
miles above its mouth. The work of removal from Biloxi 
was hastened as much as possible. As soon as the erec- 
tion of a fort and barracks was well under way, Bienville 

1 George P. Garrison, Texas ^ 37. 

2 This is Hamilton's view, Colonial Mobile, 37. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 193 

went out to establish peaceful relations with the Mobiles, 
Alabamas, and other neighboring tribes. It was his 
intention to win the firm allegiance of these powerful 
peoples, not merely as a matter of protecting the Mobile 
settlement from their ravages, but also to erect them into 
a strong barrier against the English on the site of Georgia 
and the Carolinas. In this he was, for a short time, very 
successful. Several chiefs of the Choctaws and Chickasaws 
were led to visit the new fort and there receive presents 
and sign treaties, every effort being made meanwhile to 
impress them with the wealth and power of the French. 
The Choctaws and Chickasaws were promised that if they 
would expel the English from their lands, the French 
would make the Illinois cease war upon them and would 
establish a trading station, where they could obtain all 
kinds of goods in exchange for skins of beef, deer, and 
bear. "-Thus," says Hamilton, "was the first Mobile 
founded. It was to guard the Mississippi entrance, be the 
capital of vast Louisiana, the meeting-place for the Indian 
tribes south of the Great Lakes, and the point from which 
English influence, not only in the Alabama regions, but 
in all the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, was to be over- 
thrown ; "1 in other words, to serve as the key to the con- 
trol of the great Middle West by French authority. 

The six years of Bienville's administration were filled 
with hardship and disaster. The colony failed to increase 
materially in either numbers or prosperity. In Europe 
the War of the Spanish Succession was absorbing all the 
energies and resources of the French monarchy, and as 
a consequence very little effort was made to relieve bad 

1 Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 43. 
o 



194 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

conditions in Louisiana. The Indians of the upper Mo- 
bile country were restless, and there was increasing 
evidence that they were being prompted to an attitude of 
suspicion and hostility by the English. No one could 
tell when the Virginians or the Carolinians might appear 
on the lower Mississippi and force the issue of possession. 
While civilities were, from time to time, exchanged be- 
tween the half-famished colony at Mobile and the scarcely 
more prosperous Spanish settlement at Pensacola,^ it 
was still uncertain how long the alliance of France and 
Spain in the European war would continue to make pos- 
sible such friendly relations between their colonies in 
America. 

Fever and famine united to make life at Mobile all but 
unendurable and death doubly horrible and real. So 
monotonous and fruitless was the existence of the colo- 
nists that a contemporary chronicler epitomizes the history 
of more than a twelvemonth by saying, " During the rest 
of this year, and all of the next, nothing new happened 
except the arrival of some brigantines from Martinique, 
Rochelle, and Santo Domingo, which brought provisions 
and drinks which they found it easy to dispose of." ^ In 
1704, during a lull in the struggle with England and 
Austria, the French government bestirred itself to the 

1 For example, Penicaut in his journal relates the following : " On the 
7th of January, 1700, Don Senor Guzman, governor of Pensacola, came 
to pay a visit to M. de Bienville at the fort, where he remained four days, 
during which time he was feasted by the French ; and, on his return to 
Pensacola, he ordered his aide-de-camp to distribute among the soldiers of 
the garrison a thousand dollars in presents, and requested M. de Bienville, 
as a favor, to set at liberty all the prisoners." French, Historical Collec- 
tions of Louisiana, New Series, I. 98. 

2 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, V. 24. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 195 

extent of equipping and sending to the colony a vessel 
laden with supplies and carrying seventy-tive soldiers and 
four priests. But the result was such as absolutely to dis- 
courage any further effort of the sort. The vessel arrived 
at Mobile in July, when the colony was in the throes of one 
of its most serious epidemics of fever. ^ So many of the 
crew died that it became necessary for twenty of the soldiers 
to assist in taking the ship back. Of those who remained, 
in two months' time thirty had died, along with many vic- 
tims among the older settlers, including the veteran Tonty 
who had joined the colony in 1702. The only bright side 
to the coming of the vessel was the fact that it brought two 
nuns and twenty-three girls. The latter speedily found 
husbands among the residents of the colony, and the gloom 
of colonial life was relieved somewhat, as one writer says, by 
a merry month of weddings. ^ An official despatch on the 
condition of the colony in 1704 runs as follows: "180 men 
capable of bearing arms; two French families with three 
little girls and seven little boys ; 6 young Indian boys, 
slaves, from fifteen to twenty years of age ; a little of the 
territory around Fort Louis (Mobile) has been cultivated; 
80 wooden houses, of one story high, covered with palm 
leaves and straw ; 9 oxen, five of which belong to the 
king ; 14 cows ; 4 bulls, one of which belongs to the 
king ; 6 calves ; 100 hogs ; 3 kids ; 400 hens."^ 

1 Winsor holds the view that the disease — yellow fever it seems to 
have been — was contracted by the soldiers by reason of a landing at St. 
Domingo. The matter is of comparative unimportance, as the malady 
was already by no means unknown at Mobile. Winsor, The Mississippi 
Basin, G4. 

2 Penicaut's journal in French, Hislf>ricnl Collpctions of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 'J5. * William G. Brown, History of Alabama, 37. 



190 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Until his death in 1706, Iberville remained nominally 
"commander" of the Mississippi colony, and even in his 
absence this fact had a restraining influence upon the dis- 
affected. When, however, the tidings of his death at 
Havana reached the colony, the position of Bienville be- 
came increasingly unenviable. " This melancholy news," 
says Penicaut, "fell like a dark cloud over the colony, 
and destroyed, for a while, all their hopes of receiving any 
further assistance from France, until a treaty of peace 
should he negotiated in Europe." ^ Religious factions, 
quarrelling bushrangers, and the irritating espionage of the 
commissary of marine, Nicolas de La Salle, reduced the 
lieutenant's station to one of a mere cringing, helpless ad- 
vocate of civil peace. His friends fell away, his enemies 
increased. The representations of the latter at court re- 
sulted in the unfortunate official's recall, on the ground 
that his administration had been a failure. It does not 
admit of doubt that Bienville in his dismissal was wronged. 
Bad as conditions in the colony certainly were, it was gross 
injustice to fix the blame upon one who had labored as 
faithfully as had Bienville. Under the most adverse 
circumstances he seems to have done all that any one 
could have done for the good of the settlement. The 
causes of failure lay deeper than men generally perceived. ^ 

For some months after Bienville's removal the colony 
was under the charge of Diron d'Artaguette, who bore the 
title of commissaire-ordonnateur^ — or commissary of ma- 

1 French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, New Series, I. 97. 

2 For a general survey of Bienville's character and services, see Grace 
King, Sieur de Bienville, in the " Makers of America" series. 

3 Bienville received information of his removal, February 25, 1708, but 
D'Artaguette did not arrive at Mobile to take charge of the colony until 



Ti THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 197 

rine. Hitherto the incumbent of this office had been 
vested merely with the control of public property and the 
right to attest the public acts of the governor, but now he 
was to assume for a time full charge of the colony's affairs. 
The removal of Bienville, in whom the majority of the 
colonists had implicit confidence, marked the beginning 
of a still more humiliating stage in Louisiana history. 
The great far-sighted enterprises of Iberville were forgot- 
ten. There was no longer so shrewd and enthusiastic an 
official in the colony. As Hamilton well says : '' The great 
policy of Iberville for wholesale rearrangement of Indians 
dropped out of view, and what was actually accomplished 
was to maintain Mobile as a point of observation and influ- 
ence, the port for a large but ill-organized trade among 
the Gulf and Mississippi River savages. A few interior 
trading-posts there were, but for the present no other 
colonies, and the agricultural resources of the country 
were almost entirely neglected." ^ 

Early in 1709, by reason of an unusual rise of the 
Mobile River, the colony at Fort Louis came near suffering 
a disastrous end. The town was flooded and for a time 
cut off by the waters which completely encircled Twenty- 
seven Mile Bluff". This event forced the conclusion that 
the colony's location was an unfortunate one and should 
be changed before further danger arose. Once again, 
therefore, Bienville — at that time still the de facto head 
of the settlement — began preparations for a transplant- 
ing of the unpleasantly migratory French citadel on the 

early in January, 1711. Penicaut, in French, Historical Collections of 
Louisiana, New Series, I. 99, 107. 
1 Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 5(5. 



198 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Gulf. Some land farther down the river which had been 
given to a band of fugitive Choctaws was selected, and 
on it was begun the erection of a new Fort Louis. The 
Choctaws were moved to Dog River, and thus the site of 
the modern city of Mobile was cleared for its new tenants. 
Work on the Fort was continued for more than a year, so 
that the removal of the colonists could not take place until 
late in 1710. ^ The old location was entirely abandoned. 

In May, 1710, by a governmental order, Lamothe 
Cadillac, who had been in charge of the post at Detroit, 
was transferred to the French colony on the Gulf. 
Cadillac was a man of such restless energy that he had 
outgrown the constraints of the northern colonies and was 
thought to be just the person to bring life and vigor to 
the dormant settlement at Mobile. The ministers at 
Paris failed to see that the unsatisfactory state of the 
Louisiana colony was due much more to their own indif- 
ference and lack of support than to inefficient leadership 
in America. Being obliged to go to his new post by way 
of France, Cadillac did not reach it until May, 1713, three 
years after his appointment. Besides another consign- 
ment of marriageable young ladies, he brought with him 
the news of the treaty of Utrecht in closure of the War of 
the Spanish Succession. This latter might mean greater 
liberality on the part of the court in its dealings with the 
colony, but it might also mean an end to friendly rela- 
tions with Pensacola. 

iPenicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Lo^tisiana, 
New Series, I. 103. For an account of the removal of the colony and a con- 
temporary description of the newly established Fort Louis, see Hamilton, 
Colonial Mobile, Ch. X. Hamilton enters into a detailed discussion of 
the exact site of Bienville's town relative to the present city of Mobile. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 199 

On his arrival Cadillac found that, though the colony 
now numbered about four hundred whites and twenty 
negro slaves, it was even farther from prosperity than a 
decade before. Many of the better settlers, who survived 
the fever, either returned to France or went farther up the 
Mississippi and Mobile rivers in search of more favorable 
conditions of livelihood. It had been learned that the in- 
land missions, such as Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Vincennes, 
offered inducements to colonists far in advance of any- 
thing to be found in the Gulf region. Both agriculture 
and trade were prosperous there, while on the Gulf they 
were failures. It was but natural that the settlers should 
desire to escape from the horrors of their life in the semi- 
tropics and seek more beneficent abodes in the Illinois and 
Miami country. The constant drain thither of the Mobile 
settlement's best men was one of the problems with 
which Bienville and D'Artaguette had vainly wrestled. 

On the coming of Cadillac a patent was made public 
which deeply concerned the welfare of the colony. This 
was a royal grant to one Antoine Crozat, bestowing upon 
him exclusive control of the trade of Louisiana for a period 
of fifteen years. ^ Crozat was a leading French merchant 
upon whose purse Louis had drawn heavily during his 
later wars. It was in partial payment of his loans to the 

1 The patent granted Crozat is printed in French, Historical Collections 
of Louisiana, III. 38-42. On Crozat's Louisiana enterprise, see Martin, 
History of Louisiana, I. Ch. VIII.; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, Ch. XI. ; 
Monette, History of the Mississippi Valley, I. Ch. V. ; Brown, History of 
Alabama, Ch. III. ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical Histoi-y, V. 28-31, and 
77ie Mississippi Basiti, Ch. IV. ; Gayarrg, History of Louisiana, I. 102- 
HH passim; Pickett, History of Alabama, I. Ch. V. ; and Wallace, His- 
tory of Hlinois and Louisiana under French Rule, Ch. XII. 



200 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

crown that the grant of exclusive trading rights in 
Louisiana was extended. In this patent an attempt was 
made to define in a general way the extent of the Louisi- 
ana territory. The region was described as containing all 
the lands between Carolina and New Mexico, extending 
from the Gulf northward to the Illinois. On the east 
it embraced the basin of the St. Jerome, or Ohio, and on 
the west that of the St. Pierre, or Missouri. No claim 
was set up to territory beyond the source of the Missouri, 
hi general, then, Louisiana was now understood to com- 
prise all the Mississippi Valley except that part of it lying 
east of the river and north of the Illinois. It is not to be 
understood, of course, that France had abandoned her 
claim to this latter district. It was simply attached for 
the time being, not to Louisiana, but to New France.^ 
There was no effqrt in Crozat's patent to define bounda- 
ries more accurately than has just been indicated. In 
fact, the French government was always averse to specific 
definition. In 1715 the cartographer Delisle was respect- 
fully requested to remove from his map the line of 
dots which marked the borders of Louisiana, for the 
reason that the court " wished it left indefinite, and did 
not want French maps to be quoted by foreign nations 
against us."^ 

Crozat had been given a complete monopoly of trade 
in all this vast district. By the patent. King Louis had 
forbidden '' all persons and companies of all kinds, what- 
ever their quality and condition, and whatever the pre- 

1 In September, 1717, when Crozat gave up his patent and was suc- 
ceeded by the Company of the West, Illinois was detached from New 
France and again incorporated with Louisiana, 

^ Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 86. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 201 

text might be, from trading in Louisiana under pain of 
confiscation of goods and ships, and perhaps of other and 
severer punishments." As soon as possible after receiv- 
ing the grant, September 14, 1712, Crozat set to work to 
develop the rudimentary commerce of the country. He 
had been given not only the right to trade, but also that 
of opening and working mines, making concessions of 
land to settlers, establishing manufactures, and oversee- 
ing explorations. He had also been given a monopoly of 
the slave trade in the province. By 1713 his agents were 
in America, ready for their work. 

It is not too much to say that Crozat accomplished 
more toward the exploration of the Mississippi Valley in 
a year than had been accomplished altogether since the 
death of La Salle. Posts were established on all the 
important rivers, and explorers were sent out in every 
direction to search for mines and waterways. Among 
the many trading posts established along the lower Mis- 
sissippi, the one located on the site of modern Natchez 
was easily the most important. There was just one 
thing which kept Crozat's scheme of commercial exploita- 
tion from being a grand success. That was the rivalry 
of the English. Just as the fur trade down the Mississippi 
was reaching a scale never known, or scarcely contem- 
plated, before, the English trader began to break across 
tlie Alleghanies and offer the Lidians higher prices for 
their peltries. Even as far south as the Red River these 
aggressors were active. Moreover, the coiireurs-de-bois, 
always ready to subserve their own interests, regardless 
of those of their country, were readily induced by better 
prices to send their stores of fur to Charleston and Pensa- 



202 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

cola, instead of down the Mississippi. And, to make mat- 
ters worse, the Spanish buccaneers played into the hands 
of the English by attacking Crozat's peltry-laden vessels 
as they sailed out of the Gulf. With no competitors in 
the colony, Crozat found his expected gains thwarted by 
those outside. 

Most noteworthy among the explorations engaged in 
by Crozat's agents were those in the Red River country, 
with the purpose of opening up trade with the Spaniards 
of the Southwest. In 1716 Juchereau de Saint-Denys, a 
former lieutenant-general of Montreal, under the joint 
direction of Crozat and Cadillac, ascended the Red and 
crossed nearly to the Rio Grande. He returned with 
the conviction that the Spaniards would welcome any 
attempt of the French to extend commercial relations 
in that direction, though the confiscation of the goods 
which he sent into the Rio Grande Valley a few months 
later hardly bore out his opinion. Saint-Denys's opera- 
tions on the INIexican frontier were very romantic, even 
to the extent of including a love affair between the gal- 
lant adventurer and a daughter of Raimond, the com- 
mander of the Spanish troops at the mission of Saint 
Jean Baptiste, on the banks of the Rio Grande. The 
net result, however, was simply to impress the Spaniards 
with the advisability of renewed activity in the Texas 
country to insure possession against the French on the east.^ 

1 Penicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 114-128 ; La Harpe's (?) journal, French, ibid, III. 47-48, 
63 ; Le Page du Pi'atz, History of Louisiana, 8-13 ; and Shea, Charle- 
voix's History of New France, "VI. 19-24. See the full account of Salnt- 
Denys and his exploits, in Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 90-98 ; also in 
Geoi'ge P. Garrison, Texas, Ch. V. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 203 

Late in 1716 Cadillac was recalled from the governor- 
ship of Louisiana. His haughty, imperious disposition 
had made him generally unpopular. Aside from ascend- 
ing the Mississippi to the Illinois in a vain search for silver 
mines, and sending Bienville to suppress the hostilities of 
the Natchez,! he had done little during his administration 
except send in complaints to the ministry at Paris. Prob- 
ably those to whom the complaints were addressed agreed 
with Crozat when he wrote, " I am of the opinion that 
all the disorders in the colony of which M. de la Mothe 
[Cadillac] complains proceed from his own maladminis- 
tration of affairs." 2 The new governor sent out was one 
L'Epinay. The abilities of Bienville seem by this time 
to have been better recognized, inasinuch as the control 
of the colony was left in his hands during the interim 
of six months between Cadillac's recall and L'Epinay 's 
arrival. 

The following year was marked by Crozat's surrender 
of his patent. He was discouraged with the results of 
his efforts in America, and decided to give up the mo- 
nopoly.^ It was well for the future interests of Louisiana 
tliat he did so, for, while many trading-posts were estab- 
lished under his direction, the work of colonization had 

1 Bienville, with the title "Commandant of the Mississippi and its 
Tributaries," was for the time stationed at Natchez with a garrison. For 
contemporary accounts of this first Natchez war, see Le Page du Pratz, 
Hifttnry of Louisiana, 41-49; M. de Richebourg, " MSmoire sur La 
Premiere Guerre des Natchez," in French, Historical Golloctions of 
Louisiana, III. 241-252 ; Martin, History of Louisiana, I. Ch. VIII. ; 
Shea, Charlevoix's History of Nno France, VI. 28-31. 

2 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, V. 30. 

^ Penicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
Xew Series, I. 135. 



204 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

languished. Crozat had been interested solely in com- 
merce, not in establishing an agricultural population. 
In 1717 it is estimated that there were not more than 
seven hundred French people in Louisiana. 

As soon as Crozat gave back his charter, the privileges 
which had belonged to liim under its provisions were 
conferred upon a new organization known as " The Com- 
pany of the West," or more commonly, " The Mississippi 
Company." ^ This company owed its origin to an attempt 
to relieve France from the extreme financial embarrass- 
ments which Louis XIV. had brought on her by his 
wars. Its capital stock was to be 100,000,000 livres, 
divided into shares of 500 livres each. The govern- 
ment guaranteed an income of four per cent on the 
capital invested. The company was to continue twenty- 
five years, and during that time it should enjoy a monop- 
oly of the commerce of the colony, the proprietorship of 
all lands improved, the ownersliip of all mines, as well 
as absolute control of all the colony's affairs. During 
the continuance of the charter, property in Louisiana 

1 Letters Patent granted by Louis XV. to the Company of the West, 
August, 1717, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana^ III. 49-59. 
On the organization and operations of the Company of the West, see 
Martin, History of Louisiana, I. Ch. IX. ; Monette, History of the Missis- 
sippi Valley, I. Chs. VI.-VIII. ; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, Ch. XII. ; 
Pickett, History of Alabama, Ch. VI. ; King and Ficklen, History of 
Louisiana, Ch. XII. ; King, Sieur de Bienville, Chs. XX.-XXIV. ; 
Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, T. 191-238 ; Wallace, History of Illinois 
and Louisiana under French Bide, Ch. XIII. ; Winsor, The Mississippi 
Basin, Ch. V., and Narrative and Critical History, V. Ch. I. ; Perkins, 
France under the Begency, Chs. XIII. -XV. ; and Anon., A Full and 
hnpartial Account of the Company of Mississippi projected and settled by 
Mr. Latv [London, 1720J. There is a detailed bibliography of Law and the 
Mississippi Company in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V. 75-77. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 205 

was to be exempt from taxation. Practically the only 
obligation assumed by the company was to settle six 
thousand white persons and three thousand negro 
slaves within the prescribed twenty-five years. Bien- 
ville, now entirely vindicated of the earlier charges of 
incompetency made against him, was to serve as gov- 
ernor-general of the province and act as local agent of 
the company. 

At the head of the list of directors nominated by the 
king stood the name of the Scotch adventurer, John 
Law, who was to have a notable, if not a very glorious, 
[)art in the development of the Louisiana territory. 
Law was a professional gambler and roustabout, but 
possessed of a keen mind and a winning personality. 
After failing in an attempt to induce the Scottish Par- 
liament to adopt one of his pet schemes for a paper 
currency, he passed over to France in 1716, where the 
death of Louis XIV. the previous year had thrown wide 
the flood-gates of speculation and financial recklessness. 
It promised to be a fertile field for a man of Law's 
tastes and genius. On his arrival in Paris he sought 
Philip, Duke of Orleans, the Regent in the infanc}^ of 
Louis XV., with a proposition to relieve conditions by 
establishing a royal bank of issue. The Regent was 
properly suspicious, but finally gave permission for the 
founding of a private bank under the special patronage 
of the government. With this institution Law was 
compelled to be content for the time being, hoping, how- 
ever, to see it transformed into a regular royal bank 
according to his original plan. Although the bank was 
not based on principles of recognized soundness in 



206 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

finance, it prospered even beyond its founder's expecta- 
tion, and in the course of a few months had so com- 
mended itself to the Regent that all limit upon its 
power to issue bills was removed, and it was formally 
converted into the Banque Roy ale. 

By Law's leadership in both enterprises the fortunes 
of the bank and of the Mississippi Company were bound 
together. For a time the success of the one augured 
well for the success of the other. As soon as bank- 
notes began to flow from the presses, emigrants began 
to turn their faces toward Louisiana. In February, 
1718, three vessels were despatched by the company, 
bearing a large number of troops and colonists. ^ With 
this beginning the work of settlement continued, until 
within five years not fewer than seven thousand whites 
and six hundred negroes had been brought over. 
Every effort was made to develop the resources of the 
country. Engineers were appointed to oversee the con- 
struction of public works, the mouth of the Mississippi 
was mapped and equipped with diminutive lighthouses, 
the adjacent coasts were carefully surveyed, and land 
was parcelled out in concessions to large numbers of ex- 
pectant fortune-finders.^ It must be said that many of 
the immigrants were of an undesirable character. The 
delusion still lingered that criminals and paupers were 

1 Penicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 137. 

2 Penicaut, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, New Series, 
I. 140 and III. 78. See especially Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, 
13-30. Du Pratz was one of the concessionnaires, his grant being in the 
vicinity of New Orleans. The account which he gives of his taking pos- 
session of it is full of interest. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 207 

good enough material for the making of successful 
colonies. The company at first exercised little discre- 
tion in respect to the settlers it sent out. It was a 
question of numbers, not character. Vagrants and con- 
victs, "the scum of Europe," as a contemporary de- 
scribed them, made up far too large a proportion of the 
accessions to the colony. 

Early in 1719 there was a renewal of the war between 
England, Holland, France, and the Empire, on the one 
side, and Spain on the other, ostensibly to compel the 
last-named power to observe the provisions of the peace of 
Utrecht of six years before. As soon as the news reached 
Mobile, Bienville organized a force to surjDrise Pensacola. 
After a brief contest the place was captured and its 
garrison sent to Havana. Tlie Spaniards seized the ves- 
sels which carried the prisoners and turned the tables 
by retaking the fallen fort. Upon the arrival of some 
more ships from France, Bienville repeated the operation, 
in September, 1719. But in 1721, when Philip of Spain 
ceased resistance and became a member of the alliance, the 
much-beleaguered post was given back to its founders.^ 
Aside from these little skirmishes which the colonists 
felt themselves obligated to engage in when the mother 
countries were at war, the Spanish and French in the 
Gulf region managed to give each other wide enough 
berth to insure peace and quiet. Successive efforts of 
the French in 1720 and 1721 to establish themselves on 

' On the captures of Pensacola, see Penicaut's journal, Chs. XIV.-XVI., 
ill French, Historical Collections of Loriisiana, New Series, I. 145-162 ; 
Dumont's memoir in French, ibid., V. 4-9; Le Page du Pratz, History 
of Louisiana, 111-117 ; and Shea, Charlevoix's History of Neio France, 
VI. 42-67. 



208 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the disputed Texan coast failed, mainly on account of the 
hostility of the Indians. 

Meanwhile the most notable of all French settlements 
in the Gulf district had been made. In the course of 
their earlier explorations, Bienville and Sauvole had 
marked a spot on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, 
about eighty miles from its mouth, which seemed an 
especially desirable location for a trading-post and 
colony. At this place the banks were not more than 
ten feet above the level of the stream, but everywhere 
else they were even less elevated. In the morass of the 
delta the securing of a safe and dry location was no 
easy matter. In February, 1718, a force of mechanics 
and convicts was sent to clear the ground and build the 
first storehouses and traders' cabins. " The first act of 
his [Bienville's] administration," says Penicaut, " was to 
make arrangements to remove the headquarters of the 
colonial government from the sterile lands of Biloxi, 
Mobile, and St. Louis bays, to the rich country bordering 
on the Mississippi, the site for which he had selected, and 
sent workmen and laborers there the year before [1718], 
to lay the foundation of the future capital of Louisiana. 
They removed the trees and bushes, traced the streets and 
squares, and dug drains around each, to carry off the 
waste water from the overflowings of the river in high 
water ; and also threw up an embankment in front and 
around the city to protect it from inundation."^ There 
is a longer and more interesting contemporary account of 
all this in the memoirs attributed to George Marie Butel 

1 Penicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 138. 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 209 

Dumont, which is well worth quoting. " While the con- 
cessionnaires," it says, "thus dispersed in different places 
in that vast province, were engaged in forming their 
establishments, the commandant, now left alone at Old 
Biloxi, with the troops and officers of the company, 
thougflit of makinof a more stable and solid establishment 
in the country than any that had yet been formed for 
the colony. With this view he selected a tract thirty 
leagues above the mouth of the river, and sent the Sieur 
de la Tour, chief engineer there, to choose in that tract a 
place fit for building a city worthy of becoming the capi- 
tal and headquarters, to which all the rising settlements 
might have recourse to obtain aid. 

" The Sieur de la Tour was no sooner arrived at the place, 
then consisting only of some unimportant houses, scattered 
here and there, formed by voyageurs, who had come down 
from Illinois, than he cleared a pretty long and wide 
strip along the river, to put in execution the plan he had 
projected. Then, with the help of some piqueurs, he traced 
on the ground the streets and quarters which were to 
form the new town, and notified all who wished building 
sites to present their petitions to the council. To each 
settler who appeared they gave a plot ten fathoms front 
by twenty deep, and as each square was fifty fathoms 
front, it gave twelve plots in each, the two middle ones 
being ten front by twenty-five deep. It was ordained 
that those who obtained these plots should be boinid to 
enclose them with palisades, and leave all around a strip 
at least three feet wide, at the foot of which a ditch was 
to be dug, to serve as a drain for the river water in time 
of inundation. The Sieur de la Tour deemed these 



210 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

canals, communicating from square to square, not only 
absolutely necessary, but even to preserve the city from 
inundation raised in front, near a slight elevation, run- 
ning to the river, a dike or levee of earth, at the foot of 
which he dug a similar drain. 

" All were engaged in these labors, and several houses 
or cabins were already raised, when about the month of 
September a hurricane came on so suddenly, that in an 
instant it levelled houses and palisades. With this im- 
petuous wind came such torrents of rain that you could 
not step out a moment without risk of being drowned. 
A vessel, called the Adventurer, lay at anchor before the 
town, and though all sails were reefed, and the yards and 
vessel well secured to the shore by cables, and in the 
river by anchors, it was full twenty times in danger of 
going to pieces or being dashed on the shore. In fact, this 
tempest was so terrible that it rooted up the largest trees, 
and the birds, unable to keep up, fell in the streets. In 
one hour the wind had twice blown from every point of 
the compass. On the third day it finally ceased, and they 
set to work to repair the damage done. Meanwhile the 
new city began to fill up with inhabitants, who insensibly 
began to abandon New Biloxi [Fort Louis] to come and 
settle there ; at last the commandant himself went there 
with his council and troops, leaving only an officer with a 
detachment at New Biloxi to guard the post, and direct 
vessels coming from France to the residence of the colony. 
When the foundation of the new capital, which took the 
name of New Orleans, was laid, the houses, as I have 
said, were mere palisaded cabins, like those of Old and 
New Biloxi ; the only difference being that in the latter 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 211 

places the posts were pine, -while at the capital they were 
cypress. But since tliey began to make brick there, no 
houses but brick are built, so that now the government- 
house, church, barracks, etc., and almost all the houses 
are brick, or half-brick and half-wood." ^ In such a way 
began the city of New Orleans. 

With every passing month the Mississippi bubl)le grew 
in magnitude. LaAv's financial devices were as popular 
and delusive as they were then novel. Shares in tlie 
Company of the West rose rapidly in value, going even 
beyond ten thousand francs. Values of land in Louisiana 
were grossly exaggerated, and the rush to acquire allot- 
ments correspondingly increased. Maps were abundant 
bearing the legend "this region is full of mines," sprinkled 
liberally over them. Ore and ingots were produced at 
the mint in evidence, though they probably came from 
Mexico or Peru, Money was plentiful, the spirit of 
speculation was rife, and nobody dreamed of a collapse. 
The Banque Royale was free to issue unlimited quantities 
of notes; the company existed to draw tliem into circula- 
tion. Investors came from all parts of Europe. " Paris," 
says an English pamphleteer of the time, "like the temple 
of fortune among the heathen, is resorted to l)y innumer- 
able crowds of every nation, quality, and condition, and 
the dirty kennel of Quinquempoix has for some time been 

1 Dumont's " Memoirs" in French, Historical Collectinns of Louisiana, 
V. 23-25. On the founding of New Orleans, see Duniont, Memoires Ilis- 
toriques sur la Louisiane, II. 39-46 ; Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la 
Louislane ; French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, III. 179-182; 
Grace King, New Orleans, Ch. III. ; and Gayarrfi, History of Louisiana, 
I. 233-286. In Shea, Charlevoix's History of yeio France, VI. 40, there 
is an interesting plan of the early city. 



212 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

more frequented than the Royal Exchange of London." 
It is estimated that at the end of 1719 there were five 
hundred thousand foreigners in Paris, who had been at- 
tracted thither solely by the unusual opportunities that 
were offered for speculation. The capital stock of the 
company came to be stated at the enormous figure of 
3,000,000,000 livres. 

In 1720 the end came. In January of that year Law 
became comptroller-general of the kingdom, and in the 
following month the Banque Royale was absorbed by the 
company. But already the structure had commenced to 
crumble. The more conservative investors had begun to 
ask to have their stock converted into coin or real estate 
in France. This was obviously out of the question. 
The company made desperate efforts to save itself. 
Edicts were issued compelling the acceptance of its 
notes in the payment of debts and securities, and others 
demonetizing gold and silver. Under Law's direction a 
royal decree was promulgated for the purpose of reducing 
values. But these expedients, of course, only made the 
situation worse, revealing as they did the embarrassment 
of the company's sponsors. Confidence gave place to 
distrust, and the whole project went down in utter ruin. 
Law endeavored wildly to ward off the crash, but, finding 
himself quite unable to accomplish anything, was glad to 
escape the fury of a Parisian mob and seek asylum in 
Belgium. 

For a time- the bursting of the bubble disgraced Louisi- 
ana in the eyes of Europe. The mask of romance and 
splendor which had been made to adorn the colonization 
of the Mississippi Valley was rudely torn away. "Instead 



VI THE BEGINNINGS OF LOUISIANA 213 

of the splendid visions of opulence, the disenchanted pub- 
lic would now see only unwholesome marshes, which were 
the tombs of immigrants ; its name was a name of disgust 
and terror." Yet the colony was entirely too strong and 
valuable to be abandoned. The failure of Law's schemes 
merely meant that the French settlement of the Great 
West would proceed hereafter by slower but saner 
methods. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE STRUGGLE OP THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH FOR 
POSSESSION 

AS early as 1720 the issue between the French and 
the English in the Mississippi Valley was pretty 
clearly defined. During the half-century which had 
elapsed since the expedition of Joliet and Marquette, 
enough had been seen of the great region from the Illi- 
nois to the Gulf to convince both peoples of its eminent 
desirability for possession. As yet the English had con- 
tented themselves with reiterated assertions of their 
wholesale claims through the American interior, and had 
made no concerted effort to explore, much less to colonize, 
beyond the Alleghanies. Traders who traversed the 
western country, however, kept them fairly well informed 
as to its resources, and also as to the activities of other 
Europeans in that direction. The time had not yet come 
for the swarming of the English from their seaboard 
homes, but some of the more far-sighted among them 
conceived already of an impending conflict, and by a few 
it was deemed highly expedient that steps be taken with- 
out further delay to circumvent their ambitious rivals. 

Among these seers of the first quarter of the eighteenth 
century was Lieutenant-Governor Alexander Spotswood 
of Virginia. In 1716, with his party of fifty "Knights 

214 



CHAP. VII TiiE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 215 

of the Golden Horseshoe," he had set out from the capital 
at Williamsburg to explore the sources of the James, Po- 
tomac, and other ri-vers which for a hundred years had 
formed the great highways of Virginian travel and trade 
in the tide-water districts. Another object was to examine 
the passes of the Appalachian barrier and find whether 
a good trade route might not thus be opened from the 
English colonies to the Great Lakes. The James River 
was ascended by the party in thirty-six days " to the 
very head, where it runs no bigger than a man's arm, 
from under a large stone " on the crest of the Ap[)a- 
lachian range. ^ Seven miles farther the travellers came 
upon the Susquehanna, which tliey named the Euphrates. 
There " the Governor buried a bottle and a paper enclosed, 
on which he writ that he took possession of this place in 
the name of and for King George the First of England. 
We had a good dinner, drank the king's health in cham- 
pagne, and fired a volley."^ Convinced that the desired 
portal to the western trade had thus been found, Spots- 

1 Journal of John Fontaine, quoted in Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 
1'50. Fontaine was one of Spotswood's companions on tlie trip. His 
rather slender journal (printed in Maury, Huguenot Family, New York, 
1872) is practically our only authority for the expedition, aside from 
Spotswood's report and letters. The latter are published in the Virginia 
Historical Society Collections, New Series, Vol. II. For general accounts 
of Spotswood's expedition, see Winsor, The 3Iississippi Basi)i, 127-1.35, 
and Narrative and Critical History, V. Ch. IV. ; Edward Ingle, 
"Governor Spotswood's Horseshoe Campaign in 1716, as related to the 
romance of Cathay," in the Marjazine of American History, XVII. 295- 
307 ; Robert Beverly, Virginia, Preface ; W. A. Caruthers, Knights of 
the Horseshoe; R. A. Brock's Introduction to the Official Letters of 
Spotswood in Virginia Historical Society Collections, New Serie.s, Vol. I. ; 
Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, II. Ch. XVII.; and Charles 
Campbell, History of Virginia, 378-410. ^ Journal of John Fontaine. 



216 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

wood led his party back to Williamsburg and proceeded 
to formulate a report to the English Lords of Trade. 

This report is an interesting document, revealing as it 
does the views and plans of the most ambitious executive 
in the English colonies respecting the French rivalry for 
the possession of the interior. " Having for a long time 
endeavored," he writes, " to inform myself of the situation 
of the French to the westward of us, and the advantages 
they reap by an uninterrupted communication along the 
lake, I shall here take the liberty of communicating my 
thoughts to your lordships, both of the dangers to which 
his Majesty's plantations may be exposed by this new 
acquisition of our neighbors, and how the same may be 
best prevented. I have often regretted that after so many 
years as these countries have been seated, no attempts 
have been made to discover the sources of our rivers, nor 
to establishing correspondence with those nations of Indi- 
ans to the westward of us, even after the certain knowl- 
edge of the progress made by the French in surrounding 
us with their settlements." After asserting that Lake 
Erie was but a five days' march from mountain peaks seen 
by the explorers, Spotswood went on to state the problem 
of the English in this western country as follows : " The 
British plantations are in a manner surrounded by the 
French commerce with the numerous nations of Indians 
settled on both sides of the lakes. They may not only 
engross the whole skin trade, but may, when they please, 
send out such bodies of Indians on the back of these plan- 
tations as may greatly distress his Majesty's subjects here. 
Should they multiply their settlements along these lakes 
so as to join their dominions of Canada to their new 



VII THE tiTKUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 217 

colony of Louisiana, tliej might even possess themselves 
of any of these plantations they pleased. Nature, 'tis 
true, has formed a barrier for us by that long chain of 
mountains which runs from the back of South Carolina as 
far as New York, and which are only passable in some few 
places ; but even that natural defence may prove rather 
destructive to us, if they are not possessed by us before 
they are known to them. To prevent the dangers which 
threaten his Majesty's dominions here from the growing 
power of these neighbors, nothing seems to me of more 
consequence than that now while the nations are at peace, 
and while the French are yet incapable of possessing all 
that vast tract which lies on the back of these plantations, 
we should attempt to make some settlements on the lakes 
and at the same time possess ourselves of those passes of 
the great mountains which are necessary to preserve a 
communication with such settlements."^ 

It was Spots wood's idea that by pressing through the 
Alleghany passes to the country about Lake Erie the 
English would be enabled to cut the French line of com- 
munication from Canada to Louisiana. He was an ardent 
champion of the " sea to sea " charters, and it was he more 
than any one else who formulated Virginia's great claim 
to the Northwest — a claim adhered to with steadfast per- 
sistence until after the close of the Revolution. As he 
interpreted the Virginian charter, it marked off for Eng- 
lish possession all the region of the Great Lakes from 
Erie westward, as well as most of the lands in the upper 
Mississippi Valley. As late as 1720 he was ignorant of 

1 Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Virginia Historical Society 
Collections, New Series, II. 295. 



218 THE OPENING OE THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

much that the French had done to assure permanent pos- 
session in this quarter. " In the space westward of us," 
he writes, " I do not know that the French yet have any 
settlements, nor that any other European nation ever had. 
Neither is it probable that the French from their new 
plantations will be able in some years to reach the south- 
ern boundaries mentioned in the charter of Virginia." ^ 
And although he held that the French establishments on 
the lower Mississippi were in territory rightfully belong- 
ing to the Carolinas, he seems to have been satisfied that 
a little more activity of the English in the direction of 
Lake Erie would effectually prevent the permanent 
encroachment of French colonization. His views were 
essentially narrow, yet rather more intelligent than those 
of most of his contemporaries. 

On the whole the prospect of French possession in the 
Mississippi Valley was at this time quite good. The 
bursting of the Mississippi bubble had far more serious 
effects in France than in America. The net result of the 
whole ill-fated enterprise of Law was to settle in Louisiana 
not fewer than six or seven thousand people. A popula- 
tion had been gained, by however questionable a process, 
and a population that for the most part reconciled itself 
in time to the disappointments incident to the failure of 
Law and the first untrained contact with the American 
wilderness, and remained to become the progenitors of a 
very important element of the inhabitants of the lower 
Mississippi Valley. By the time that Spotswood was 
writing that he knew of no French settlements in or west 

1 Spotswood to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, May 20, 1720. FiV- 
ginia Historical Society Collections, New Series, II. 836. 



vn THE STKUGGr.i; FOR POSSESSION 219 

of the great \^irgiiiia territory, the Mississippi, between 
tlie Illinois and the Red, was fast coming to be lined with 
P^-ench missions and trading-posts. ^ In the spring of 
1720 Pierre Dugue Boisbriant, a cousin of Bienville and 
commander in the Illinois district, completed a strong fort 
sixteen miles north of Kaskaskia, and named it Fort 
Chartres in honor of the Regent of France. ^ This post 
was destined to distinction forty years later, as it was the 
last point at which the French flag was hauled down east 
of the Mississippi. The next year Kaskaskia was ele- 
vated to the dignity of a parish, an act indicative of its 
growing importance. About this time Pierre Frangois 
Xavier de Charlevoix, a Jesuit priest in the emplo}^ of 
the Regent, made a tour of the French settlements in the 
West for the express purpose of observing their number 
and strength and communicating the facts to the home 
government.^ From his reports we are able to ascertain 

1 Richard B. Haughton, "The Influence of the Mississippi River upon 
the Early Settlement of its Valley," in 3Iississippi Historical Society 
Publications, IV. 465-483. 

2 At the time of its construction the fort seemed to stand upon solid 
foundations. A half century later, however, when it was held by the 
English, a springtime freshet compelled its permanent abandonment. See 
a very interesting paper by Edward G. Mason on "Old Fort Chartres," 
in Illinois in the Eighteenth Century (Fergus Historical Series, No. VI) 
[Chicago, 1881]. The same paper is in Mason, Chapters from Illinois His- 
tory, 212-250. Another valuable paper by the same author is " Kaskaskia 
and its Parish Records," in the Magazine of American History, VI. IGI- 
182. 

3 Charlevoix had been specially commissioned by the Regent, the Duke 
of Orleans, to ascertain all that could be known concerning the long- 
sought route to the China Sea. He landed in Canada in 1720. An ac- 
count of his travels was published twenty-four years later in his very 
important work, Histoire et description (jenerale de la Nouvelle France 
avec le journal historique d''un voyage fait par ordre du roi dans PAme- 



220 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

quite definitely the position of the French on the Mis- 
sissippi at the time under consideration. Besides Fort 
Chartres and Kaskaskia, he describes a settlement at 
Cahokia at the mouth of the Illinois, now more than a 
score of years old, and another in its incipient stages at 
Natchez. Many more were being planned and some were 
already being marked on the maps as sure to be estab- 
lished soon. While New Orleans was described as a 
hundred cabins for the troops, irregularly placed, a store- 
house of wood, two or three mean dwellings, and an 
unfinished warehouse, the day was predicted when it 
would become an opulent town, the capital of a rich 
colony. Under date of January 10, 1722, Charlevoix 
writes in his journal as follows : " I am at length arrived 
in this famous city which they have called la Nouvelle 
Orleans. . . . This city is the first which one of the 
greatest rivers of the world has seen raised on its banks. 
If the eight hundred fine houses and the five parishes 
which the newspapers gave it some two years ago are 
reduced at present to a hundred barracks placed in no 
very great order, to a great storehouse built of wood, to 
two or three houses which would be no ornament to a vil- 
lage of France, and to the half of a sorry storehouse which 
they agreed to lend to the lord of the place, and which he 
had no sooner taken possession of, but they turned him 
out to dwell under a tent ; what pleasure, on the other 
side, to see insensibly increasing this future capital of a 

riqne Septentrionale. A portion of this history is given in French, Histori- 
cal Collections of Louisiana, HI., and there is a complete and invaluable 
translation of the entire work by J. G. Shea, in six volumes, published 
at New York in 1872 under the title History and General Description of 
New France. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 221 

fine and vast country, and to be able to say, not with a 
sigh, like the hero of Virgil, speaking of his dear native 
place consumed by the flames, and the fields where the 
city of Troy had been, but full of a well-grounded hope, 
this wild and desert place, which the reeds and trees do 
yet almost wholly cover, will be one day, and perhaps that 
day is not far off, an opulent city, and the metropolis of a 
great and rich colony. . . . Rome and Paris had not 
such considerable beginnings, were not built under such 
happy auspices, and their founders did not find on the 
Seine and the Tiber the advantages we have found on the 
]\Iississippi, in comparison of which those two rivers are 
but little brooks." ^ The entire province was declared to 
have a population of about fifty-five hundred, of which 
six hundred were slaves. 

The year 1722 was marked by the first systematic effort 
to set up a fixed order of colonial government in Louisi- 
ana. In the latter part of May the Aveyiturier arrived at 
Biloxi \vith directions from the company to transfer the 
capital from that place to New Orleans. Within a few 
weeks the stores of .the company were moved to the 
future seat of government and Bienville there took up his 
residence. 2 For judicial purposes the colony was divided 
into nine districts, each under the jurisdiction of a com- 
mander. A Superior Council was constituted from the 
company in France to serve as an appellate court. By an 
ordinance of May 16, 1722, issued by the commissioners 

1 Journal of Father Charlevoix, translated in French, Historical CuUoc- 
tions of Louisiana., III. 171. See an article by John Dimity on "Charle- 
voix in New Orlean.s," in the Magazine of American History, X. 140-142. 

2 Shea, Charlevoix's History of New France, VI. 67. 



222 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of this council, the province of Louisiana was divided into 
three spiritual jurisdictions.^ One of these was to be under 
the control of the Capuchins, another under that of the 
Jesuits, and the third under that of the Carmelites. Later in 
the same year, however, by an ordinance of the bishop of 
Quebec, the Carmelites were deprived of their district, and 
the parallel of Natchez was made the dividing line between 
the Capuchins on the south and the Jesuits on the north. 
Before many years it was discovered that the Capuchins 
were not sufficiently numerous to attend projjerly to the 
spiritual needs of the district assigned them, and Jesuits 
were gradually admitted. In September, 1726, the com- 
pany entered into its first contract for the settlement of 
some Ursuline nuns at New Orleans. It was designed 
that they should establish a hospital and have charge of 
the education of the settlers' children. The six women who 
were first sent over arrived in the summer of 1727 and at 
once began their work.^ The convent which was built for 
them a few years later is still standing, being used as the 
residence of the archbishop, and is considered by Winsor 
probably the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley.^ 

With the year 1724 Bienville's governorship came to a 
temporary close. It seems always to have been his mis- 
fortune to be disliked and conspired against by his sub- 

1 Gabriel Gravier's introduction to Marie Madeleine Hachard's Rela- 
tion (III Vuyage des Dames Beligieuses Ursulines de Rouen a la Nouvelle 
Orleans, p. xli [Paris, 1872]. 

2 See the very interesting Relation of Marie Madeleine Hachard, one of 
the six nuns, as above ; also Trauchepin, Relation du Voyage des Premieres 
Ursulines a la Nouvelle Orleans et de leur etablissement en cette ville [New 
York, 1859]. The official authorization of the work of the Ursulines by 
the Company of the West is printed in French, Historical Collections of 
Louisiana, III. 79-83, note. ^ Winsor, Tlie 3Iississi2')2)i Basin, 159. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 223 

ordinates in office. Probably this is to be accounted for 
rather more by the jealousies and rivalries that charac- 
terized French administration in America than by any 
unusual combativeness in his own disposition. Be that 
as it may, after almost a quarter-century of command in 
the colon}^, the governor could not save himself from a 
sharp recall. He was made the scapegoat for many of 
the blunders and failures of the company, although it 
must be confessed tliat by connecting his name witli an 
infamous legal code in the interval between his recall and 
his embarkation for France he seriously compromised his 
claims upon the consideration of those interested in a 
wholesome government in the colony. ^ On his return he 
defended his course as governor by presenting at court a 
lengthy memorial, reciting the services he and his numer- 
ous brothers had rendered the cause of the French in the 
American wilderness. But his plea went for nothing, as 
the Superior Council was convinced that his further con- 
trol in Louisiana would but perpetuate the evils of the past 
two decades. From the following report sent to the council 
by the commander of Dauphin Island and Biloxi after the 
installation of Bienville's successor, Perier, it appears that 
the change in the governorship produced no visible effect on 
the conditions of local politics and administration : " The 

1 This was the so-called Code Noir which Bienville drew up from the 
regulations compiled by the jurists of Louis XIV. for the island of St. 
Domingo. It was intended primarily to bring within the pale of the 
law the constantly increasing number of negro slaves in the colony, and 
for the most part in this direction its provisions were harsh and illiberal, 
though in perfect accord with the spirit of the times. It continued in 
effect until after the cession of Louisiana to the United States in 1808. 
For a full synopsis of the fifty-four articles of the Black Code, see French, 
Historical Collections of Loviaiana^ III 89-0.5, note. 



224 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

army is without discipline. Military stores and munitions 
of war are not protected. Soldiers desert at pleasure. 
Warehouses and store-ships are pillaged. Forgers, thieves, 
and murderers go unpunished. In short, the country is a 
disgrace to France, being without religion, without justice, 
without discipline, without order, without police."^ 

The most important event of Perier's administration 
was the war with the Natchez. These Indians were the 
most compactly organized and the farthest advanced of 
any with whom the French came in contact in the South. ^ 
They were not numerous, but they held a position of strate- 
gic importance on the lower Mississippi. In 1716 Bien- 
ville had won their respect by a firm demand for the 
punishment of some of their number who had murdered 
a party of French voyageurs, and for more than a decade 
after that time they continued quite friendly toward the 
French. No one of the French settlements above New 
Orleans prospered as did Rosalie, which was situated just 

1 Quoted in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, V. 46. 

2 For a description of the Natchez and an account of the Natchez wars, 
see Penicaut's journal, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, 
New Series, I. 88-95 ; Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, 79-95, 322- 
376 ; Shea, Charlevoix'' s History of Neio France, VI. 80-118 ; Father Le 
Petit's narrative, in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, III. 140- 
158; Dumont, "Historical Memoirs of Louisiana," in French, Histori- 
cal Collections of Louisiana, V. 58-102 ; King and Ficklen, History of 
Louisiana, Ch. XIV. ; Gayarre, History of Louisiana, I. 395-450 ; Gay, 
Bryant's History of the United States, II. 540-542 ; Winsor, The Missis- 
sippi Basin, 187-188 ; Grace King, Sierir de Bienville, Ch. XXV. ; Wal- 
lace, History of Illinois and Louisiana under French Bule, Ch. XIV. ; 
Pickett, History of Alabama, I. Ch. VII. ; Martin, History of Louisiana, 
I. Ch. XL ; and Monette, History of the Valley of the 3Iississippi, I. Chs. 
VII. and VIII. See also an interesting article by J. H. Walworth on 
"The Natchez Indians — A Lost Tribe," in the Magazine of American 
History, XI. 300-309. 



Til THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 225 

across the river from the main town of the Natchez. But 
for the unpardonable effrontery of the French commander, 
Chopart, the two peoples might have lived long in peace. 
Chopart was typical of a class of selfish and narrow-minded 
officials of whom France had far too many in the New 
World. By his conduct the foundations of peace with 
the natives, so carefully laid by La Salle, Iberville, and 
Bienville, threatened to be swept entirely away. His 
most notorious act, and the one which precipitated the 
conflict, was his demand that the Natchez abandon the 
site of their town and their religious shrines in order that 
he might have it for his private plantation. Argument 
on part of the incensed Indians proved unavailing, and 
for the time they appeared to consent to a removal within 
two months. In secret council, however, they planned a 
stroke which they lioped would deliver them forever from 
the intrusions of the French. Other tribes, notably the 
Choctaws, gladly joined in the prospective enterprise of 
extermination, and it was arranged that the blow should 
fall on the day when Chopart had directed the abandon- 
ment of the village and temple. That day was November 
28, 1729. When it came the work of revenge was accom- 
plished almost without resistance. The Indians entered 
the homes of the French, and at an agreed signal the mas- 
sacre began. When it was finished at least two hundred 
Frenchmen lay dead, among them Chopart. Of the gar- 
rison but a single soldier escaped. Most of the women 
and children were held to be employed as slaves. ^ 

1 Dumont, Memoires Ilistoriques sur la Lonisiane. See plan of Fort 
Rosalie in Winsor, The 3Iississippi Basin, 189 ; also in Narrative and 
Critical History of America, V. 47. 
Q 



226 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

December 3 some fugitives from the slaughter reached 
New Orleans. Perier lost no time in organizing a little 
array to advance against the Natchez. The Choctaws, 
who were disgruntled because the Natchez had begun the 
massacre two days earlier than had been agreed, and had 
not divided the spoils with their confederates, were won 
from their alliance and induced to take up arms on the 
side of the French. In March, 1730, the combined forces 
of French and Choctaws compelled the surrender of the 
Natchez. The defeated natives then became fugitives. 
They mov'ed northward and tried to capture the French 
fort at Natchitoches, commanded by Saint-Denys, but 
failed. The following year Perier, strengthened by the 
arrival of three companies of marines from France, made 
a final movement up the river and completely destro3'ed 
the remaining remnant of the Natchez nation. Two hun- 
dred were taken as prisoners and sold as slaves on the 
plantations of St. Domingo. Three hundred escaped and 
scattered among the tribes who were hostile to the French. 
It is said that even now, among the Creek Indians who 
cultivate the fertile lands reserved for them in the upper 
valleys of the Washita River, there are three hundred or 
more good citizens who speak the Natchez language and 
trace their descent back to the vassals of the Natchez 
"Brother of the Sun." 

The Natchez war was the first serious conflict between 
the French and the Indians in Louisiana. From it the 
colonists learned the lesson that it was never possible to 
be too well prepared to resist attack. New Orleans had 
hitherto been but poorly fortified, but now Perier began 
to dig a moat around the town and plan forts at several 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 227 

points on the river to circumvent hostile movements. 
During the campaign against the Natchez it had been 
demonstrated that there was need also for defence against 
internal foes. The absence of the soldiery from New- 
Orleans had all but precipitated a slave insurrection. 
The number of negroes in the colony was such that their 
tendency to revolt constituted a very real danger. Only 
by the prompt execution of a half-dozen of the ringleaders 
on this occasion was the horror averted.^ 

The net result of the massacre of the inhabitants at 
Fort Rosalie and the attempted rising of the slaves at 
New Orleans was to discredit the existing administration 
of the colony. Within the company itself there was a 
reaction, and the feeling grew that Louisiana was but a 
drain upon its resources. Other fields, especially in Asia 
and Africa, promised vastly more, at least in the way of 
immediate returns, and the members lost interest in their 
American investment. At last, convinced that the con- 
trol of Louisiana was but a dead weight, the company 
surrendered its charter to the king in January, 1731. 
The system of commercial monopoly had broken down. 
The Louisiana situation afforded one more illustration of 
the folly of intrusting the business of colonization to 
boards of royal favorites who did not intend to leave the 

1 Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, 77-19. Accounts of the 
insurrection differ. Du Pratz says it began in an outbreak of tiie negroes 
against a Frencli soldier wlio insulted a female negro. Charlevoix (His- 
tory of New France, translated by Shea, VI. 119) makes it appear that 
the rising was instigated by the Chickasaw Indians who sent to New 
Orleans a trusted negro to notify all his race that " it depended on them 
alone to recover their liberty and live in quiet and plenty among the 
English." 



228 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

comforts of their own homes and cast in their fortunes 
with the colonies. 

May 7, 1732, the kin^ organized a council of govern- 
ment to take the place of the defunct company. ^ Perier 
was recalled from the governorship of the province, and 
Bienville restored to his old post. At the time of the 
change the population of the colony was still not more 
than 5000, of whom 2000 were negroes. There were 
eleven distinct settlements and posts. Bienville's second 
administration began with the migration of considerable 
numbers of people from France to Louisiana, but un- 
fortunately they came mainly from the pauper and vaga- 
bond classes. During the next fifteen years there was no 
growth in population — rather a decline. In 1745 there 
were but 1700 white men, 1500 women, and 2020 slaves 
in the entire province. Fort Rosalie, at one time heralded 
as the most favored of all the French settlements on the 
Mississippi, had only eight white men and fifteen negro 
slaves. 

As soon as Bienville was again in full command at New 
Orleans he began preparations for a war against the 
Chickasaw Indians, whose country lay between the upper 
forks of the Mobile River. There were several reasons 
for such a war. In the first place, the Chickasaws had 
given refuge to some of the fleeing Natchez, and had 
encouraged them to maintain a sort of guerilla war with 
the destroyers of their villages. Moreover, the Chicka- 
saws were prime movers in a growing league of the 
Indians of the South to destroy French commerce on the 
rivers emptying into the Gulf, chiefly the Mississippi and 
1 Gayarr6, History nf Louisiana, I. 455. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 229 

the Mobile. And finally, the Chickasaws were strongly 
inclined to an alliance with the English. They received 
English traders from Carolina with the utmost hospitality, 
and it was known that several Englishmen lived per- 
manently among them for trading and other purposes. 
It was likewise understood that the English had not 
a little to do with prompting the Chickasaws to acts of 
hostility against French trade. The crusade which Bien- 
ville thought it necessary to organize against this tribe 
partook, therefore, largely of the nature of a movement 
to check the advance of English influence in the West. 
The hope of plundering the English traders was not the 
least of the incentives which impelled the Frenchmen to 
join the expedition. 

Preparations for the campaign were in proportion to its 
importance.^ The Choctaws, who lived 160 miles south 
of the Chickasaw country, were secured as allies, and it 
was arranged that D'Artaguette, commander at Kaskaskia, 
with as large a force as he could gather in the Illinois 
region, should cooperate with the expedition from the 
south. Bienville himself was to advance by way of the 
Mobile and Tombigbee rivers. Fort Mobile was left 

1 The best contemporary accounts of Bienville's campaigns against tlie 
Chickasaws are Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, 96-105, and 
Dumont, " Historical Memoirs of Louisiana," in French, Historical Col- 
lections of Louisiana, V. 106-118. Modern accounts are in Grace King, 
Sieur de Bienville, Chs. XXVI. and XXVII. ; King and Ficklen, Histori/ 
of Louisiana, 99-106; G?iya,rr6, Histori/ of Louisiana, I. 459-492; Mar- 
tin, History of Louisiana, I., Ch. XII.; Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 
190-192; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, Ch. XIV. ; Monette, History of the 
Valley of the 3Iississippi, I. Ch. IX. ; Pickett, History of Alabama, I. 
Ch. X. ; Brown, History of Alabama, Ch. VI. ; and Wallace, History of 
Illinois and Louisiana under French Rule, Ch. XV. 



230 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

April 1, 1736. Three weeks later, when the army was at 
Tombigbee,^ it was joined by the Choctaw contingent. 
The French probably numbered about five hundred and 
the Choctaws from six hundred to one thousand. After 
a month's travelling up the river they came to the point 
where it was no longer navigable, and where it was 
necessary to build a stockade to protect the boats and 
proceed by land. When the chief village of the Chicka- 
saws was reached the suspicions of the French were 
confirmed by seeing an English flag flying above the 
fortification and a number of Carolina traders mingling 
with the savage warriors. The Chickasaw fort was cir- 
cular in shape, with three rows of loopholes, and was 
built of heavy timbers a foot in diameter. The first 
attack, May 26, resulted in a disastrous repulse of the 
assailants. It is said that the loss was as high as 50, 
which number was increased to 120 before Bienville 
finally decided to abandon the undertaking. The Chicka- 
saw fort was manifestly too strong to be taken by 
storm. Until the last Bienville hoped for the arrival 
of D'Artaguette, but in vain. The Illinois commander 
had been, directed to be in the vicinity of the Chicka- 
saw stronghold not later than May 10, at which time 
Bienville had planned the first attack. D'Artaguette, 
however, had advanced more rapidly than had Bienville, 
and had been the first to encounter the foe. With his 
band of four hundred French and Indians he had engaged 
unadvisedly in a battle with the northernmost Chicka- 
saws in the hope of defeating them before Bienville 
arrived, so as to monopolize the credit ©f the expedition. 
1 The modern Jones's Bluff of the Little Tombigbee River. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 231 

At the first onset he was deserted by his Indians and 
captured. From him the Chickasaws obtained a supply 
of gunpowder and some despatches from Bienville out- 
lining the plan of attack. These were easily translated 
by the English traders at the fort, so that everything was 
in readiness to repel the expedition from the south as 
soon as it appeared. Having heard only vague rumors of 
D'Artaguette's proximity, Bienville led his band of dis- 
couraged followers back to New Orleans. During the 
next three years he busied himself with plans for renewing 
the war, for it was apparent that the French river traffic 
would never be safe until the power of the Chickasaws 
was effectually broken. 

In 1740 he was again ready. This time the advance 
upon the Chickasaw country was from a different direc- 
tion. Fort Assumption, built for the purpose near the 
site of modern Memphis, was made the mustering place, 
and an army of thirty-six hundred men was there col- 
lected, one-third whites, and the rest Indians and negro 
slaves. Seven hundred were soldiers newly arrived from 
France, others were from the Illinois posts, and a few 
from Canada. All together it was the largest army which 
the French in America had ever put in the field. So for- 
midable did it appear that the Chickasaws took alarm and 
declared themselves ready to surrender the English who 
were among them, and to send their chiefs to Fort As- 
sumption as hostages and peacemakers. Remembering 
the disasters of the former war, Bienville gladly accepted 
this offer. By April 1, 1740, he was ready to return to 
New Orleans. Fort Assumption was abandoned, not to 
be restored as a military stronghold until the opening 



232 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of the Civil War. As for the Chickasaws, they were 
not conquered, and continued ahuost as regularly as 
before to jeopardize French trade. They long remained 
mere tools in the hands of tlie English, by whom they 
were constantly encouraged to break their treaty obliga- 
tions. 

Bienville's career in America was now near an end. 
In 1743 he was succeeded in the governorship by the 
Marquis de Vaudreuil, a Canadian and a son of a former 
governor of Canada, after which he went to Europe, 
never to return to the scene of his early labors, though 
he lived until four years after France had lost her last 
hold upon the American continent. Conditions in Louisi- 
ana at the retirement of Bienville were still extremely 
unsatisfactory. The colony had succeeded no better 
under the control of the king than under that of the 
Company of the West. As we have seen, population 
actually decreased. Its officers and garrisons entailed 
on the crown an annual expenditure of 500,000 livres, 
while the revenues were quite inconsiderable. Louis XV. 
could see in the colony nothing to be proud of, and did 
not hesitate on numerous occasions to shov/ his contempt 
for it. The colony was not self-supporting even as to 
food supplies, being dependent on shipments from the 
Illinois country and from Europe. Among Governor 
Vaudreuil's first reports to the home government was 
one to the effect "that if a certain consignment of flour 
had not arrived at a certain date, the starving garrison 
would have been beyond his control. 

In an anonymous letter written about 1744 by a French 
officer at New Orleans to a friend in Paris we find the fol- 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 233 

lowing pessimistic picture of life in the Louisiana capital : 
" The French live sociably enough, but the officers are 
too free with the Town's Peoj^le ; and the Town's People 
that are rich are too proud and lofty ; their Inferiors 
hardly dare speak to them, and here, as every where else 
(to make Use of a common Proverb), an upstart Fellow 
thinks that others are not worthy to look at him. Every 
one studies his own Profit ; the Poor labour for a Week 
and squander in one Day all they have earned in six ; 
from thence arises the Profit of the Publick-houses, which 
flourish every Day : The rich spend their Time in seeing 
their Slaves work to improve their Lands, and get Money, 
which they spend in Plays, Balls and Feasts. What I say 
of New Orleans, I say of the whole Province, without be- 
ing guilty of Slander or Calumny. Laws are observed 
here much in the same Manner as in France, or worse : 
The rich Man knows how to procure himself Justice of 
the Poor, if the Affair is to his Advantage ; but if the 
poor Man is in the right, he is obliged to enter into a 
Composition ; if the rich is in the wrong the Affair is 
stifled. They deal fairly with such as are very sharp- 
sighted : As the King is at a great Distance, they make 
him provide Victuals, Arms and C loathing for the Troops, 
which those who keep the Offices or Magazines, sell, and 
put the Money in their own Pockets ; the poor Soldier, 
for whom they were designed, never so much as seeing 
them. . . . The Country was at first settled by leud 
good for nothing People, sent from France by Force ; 
afterwards by young People who went thither by Choice, 
and by young People who had no Fathers, taken, with 
their own Good-will, out of the Hospitals at Paris and 



234 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

rOrient. At present no Women are sent there against 
their Will. Sometimes false Coiners and Smugglers are 
sent thither, but they are free in the Country, and work for 
themselves ; and even those of them who chose to enter 
among the Troops, are received there, provided they have 
not passed thro' the Hands of Justice. The mechanick 
Arts flourish : The King sends Workmen for building 
and repairing his Ships : He entertains Seamen there, and 
Workmen in Wood and Iron. The Youth here are em- 
ployed in hunting, fishing and pleasuring ; very few learn 
the necessary Sciences, or at best it is what is least at- 
tended to. The Children, even of the best Sort, know 
how to fire a Musket or shoot an Arrow, catch Fish, draw 
a Bow, handle an Oar, swim, run, dance, play at Cards, 
and understand Paper Notes, before they know their Let- 
ters or their God, A Child of six Years of Age knows 
more here of raking and swearing than a young Man of 
25 in France ; and an insolent Boy of 12 or 13 Years of 
Age will boldly insult, and strike an old Man.'' ^ 

The river trade was the most important factor in the 
life of the colony. The settlers in the Illinois country, 
of whom there were between one and two thousand by 
1743, farmed and raised stock during a portion of the 
year and spent the rest of their time in making trips to 

1 'Hie Present State of the Country and Inhabitants, Etn-opeans and 
Indians, of Loidsiana on the North Continent of America, by an Officer 
at Neiv Orleans to his Friend at Paris, 11-13, 27-29 [London, 1744]. 
There are reasons for believing tliat the evils of Louisiana life depicted in 
this letter i-eally existed although the author was certainly far from infal- 
lible, since in beginning his epistle he ascribes the local name " English 
Turn " to a visit by the English to the portion of the Mississippi in ques- 
tion before La Salle reached the Gvxlf in 1682 — certainly an inexcusable 
prror. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 235 

New Orleans to dispose of their products. These con- 
sisted chiefly of flour and pork, which were transported 
to market on broad and substantial barges, guided by 
experienced river navigators. As a rule a large number 
of such barges went down the river together, from con- 
siderations of companionship for the traders as well as 
innuunity from Indian attacks. December was the usual 
starting time from Kaskaskia and Cahokia and Fort 
Chartres, and the descent to the New Orleans market 
would be accomplished by early January. After two 
or three weeks of bargaining the traders were ready to 
return, their barges laden this time with sugar, rice, cot- 
ton, tobacco, and manufactured articles brought in from 
France. Naturally the ascent was tedious and wearisome, 
but thoughts of home and of the joy which their coming 
would bring in the upper settlements nerved the sturdy 
rowers to their best efforts. 

Vaudreuil assumed the governorship in 1743, with am- 
bitions rather out of proportion to the strength of the 
colon}'. He cherished a plan for the maintenance of 
such a court at New Orleans as would have been noth- 
ing less than ridiculous had it ever been realized. As 
Winsor remarks, " He did not see as well as others saw 
the rather incongruous exhibition which the manners of 
Paris made in the swampy little town."^ About the 
only life which the place manifested was contributed 
by the visiting traders, and the occasional arrival of filles 
(1 la cassette. Instead of being free to organize a social 
and court system, the new governor found himself under 
the necessity of devoting his energies mainly to the 
1 Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 260. 



236 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

checkmating of hostile Indians and the English.^ One 
party of the Choctaws persisted in allying themselves 
with the Carolinians and Georgians, and New Orleans 
was never quite able to cast off the fear of an English 
attack by sea. In 1750 the portion of the Choctaws 
which was attached to the French attacked the smaller 
portion which supported the English, and by the treaty 
of Grand Pre effectually repressed them for a time. But 
the effect was only temporary, for English influence from 
the East was growing steadily stronger. The Chickasaws 
offered to conclude a treaty with Vaudreuil, but the gov- 
ernor was suspicious of their motives and preferred to 
wait until he should have conquered them in war — a 
consummation which was never attained. The military 
character of the French occupancy of Louisiana at this 
time is indicated by the fact that in 1751 Vaudreuil had 
under his command two thousand troops — probably more 
than half of the entire white population of the colony. 

The location of the French settlements in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley at this stage of their history is described 
as follows by Winsor in his Mississippi Basin : " By the 
middle of the century the French in Louisiana were well 
intrenched outside New Orleans in at least eight districts. 
Not far from the capital they had a post and settlement 
at Point Coupee on the Mississippi, below the Red River. 
They maintained a post at Natchitoches, toward the 
Spanish frontier in New Mexico. They had another at 
Natchez, and still another near the mouth of the Arkansas. 

1 Several of Vaudreuil's letters on the subject of English and Indian 
relations are given in the anonymous Present State of the Country and 
Inhabitants of Louisiana before referred to, pp. 31-54. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 237 

There were also settlements dependent on Fort Chartres, 
in the Illinois country, the best compacted of all the 
occupied regions, numbering at this time, as was com- 
puted, eleven hundred whites, three hundred negroes, and 
about sixty Indian bondmen. This estimate did not in- 
clude those settlements above Peoria accounted a part 
of Canada, nor those settlers on the Wabash similarly 
classed. Besides three native villages near Fort Chartres, 
with about three hundred warriors, — for the Illinois 
tribes had been reduced by migrations, — there were, not 
far away, five distinct French communities : that at 
Cahokia, below the modern St. Louis ; one at St. Philippe, 
above Fort Chartres ; the parent village at Kaskaskia ; and 
another gathering at Prairie du Rocher. Still another, 
but west of the Mississippi, was that at Ste. Genevieve." ^ 
In February, 1753, Vaudreuil was transferred to the 
governorship of Canada.^ His place at New Orleans was 
taken by Captain Kerlerec, an officer of the royal navy, 
who occupied it during the remaining ten years of French 
tenure in the valley. Kerlerec quarrelled continually 
with his subordinates, particularly with Rochemore, the 
intendant of commerce. Upon his return to Paris in 
1763 he was imprisoned in the Bastile on the charge of 
having misappropriated 10,000,000 livres in four years 
on a pretence of preparing for an Indian war. The 
reports sent from the colony during Kerlerec's adminis- 
tration are filled with a wearisome round of complaints 
against officials, expressions of dissatisfaction with the 
soldiery, and excuses for inactivity and lack of progress. 

1 Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 268. 

2 He did not assume the duties of the new oflBce until two years later. 



238 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

In the meantime the inevitable conflict between the 
French and English for possession of the eastern Mis- 
sissippi Valley was rapidly hastening toward a crisis, and 
it may be well at this point to cast a backward glance at 
the results thus far achieved since the rivalry of the two 
peoples had begun to involve them in open war. Tlie 
first serious clash had occurred in the year 1690, just after 
the beginning of the War of the Palatinate in Europe 
between Louis XIV. on the one hand and the alliance of 
Protestant sovereigns, headed by William III., of England, 
on the other. Louis was moved by a great ambition to unite 
the Spanish and French colonial empires, create a formid- 
able world-monarchy, and bring English colonial enter- 
prise and trading operations within permanently restricted 
limits. Although this project did not advance as far 
toward realization as did a similar one formed by Napo- 
leon more than a century later, it was nevertheless a real 
danger to the English people everywhere, in the colonies 
as well as at home, and it was only by the most masterly 
building of coalitions to keep Louis engaged on the conti- 
nent that William was able to ward off the impending 
blow. The colonial war, which paralleled that in Europe 
between 1689 and 1697, took the form mainly of French 
and Indian raids from Canada upon the settlements of 
western New England at the instigation of Count Fronte- 
nac and retaliatory expeditions of New Englanders against 
the French posts to the north. Ill feeling between the 
two peoples was especially strong because of the long- 
pending dispute over the possession of the Hudson Bay 
district and because of the conviction of the English that 
the French had been guilty of stirring up the savages on 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 239 

the frontiers, notably in the war of King Philip, in 1676. 
lUow after blow fell upon the bewildered English. In 
1690 Schenectady, New York, was burned, and many of 
its people slaughtered. ^ Salmon Falls and Exeter in New 
Hampshire, and Fort Loyal (now Portland), Maine, were 
similarly destroyed. In May, 1690, a meeting of colonial 
governors was held at New York to discuss the situation 
and devise measures for prosecuting the w^ar. A three- 
fold attack on the French was projected, but only the 
movement in charge of Sir William Phips, the energetic 
governor of Massachusetts, was in any degree successful. 
With eight small vessels Phips captured Port Royal in 
Acadia, demolished the French fort at the mouth of the 
St. John River, and made an attempt, though in vain, to 
take Quebec. At about the same time an expedition 
against Montreal failed completely, and in 1691 the French 
recaptured Port Royal. Throughout the later years of the 
war the French and Indians continued their raids, meeting 
with only desultory opposition, until finally the news came 
as a welcome relief, that in September, 1697, King Louis 
had found liimself hard enough pressed to offer conces- 
sions and sign a treaty of peace at Ryswick in Holland. 
So far as America was concerned the treaty of Ryswick 
provided simply for a return to status quo ante helium.'^ 
'' The most Christian King," so runs the seventh article, 
" shall restore to the said King of Great Britain all coun- 
tries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, 

1 Letter of Comptroller-General de Monseignat to Madame de Mainte- 
non, in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, IX. 400-4(39. 

2 The text of the treaty is in Chalmers, Collection of Treaties, I. .S32- 
340. The portions relating to America are given in MacUonald, Select 
Charters^ 222-223, 



240 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

which the English did possess before the declaration of 
this present war. And in like manner the King of Great 
Britain shall restore to the most Christian King all coun- 
tries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, 
which the French did possess before the said declaration 
of war ; and this restitution shall be made, on both sides, 
within the space of six months, or sooner if it can be 
done." The Hudson Bay dispute was to be referred to 
a joint English and French commission, which, however, 
seems never to have been actually appointed. The war 
thus closed without settling anything, and its early re- 
newal was practically assured. 

Though in Europe the War of the Palatinate ended 
most disadvantageously for France, Louis's imperial ambi- 
tions were not a whit diminished, and no one understood 
better than the veteran English sovereign that the snake 
was but scotched, not killed. No sooner was peace de- 
clared, therefore, than preparations began to be pushed for 
a second and more telling bout of the uncompromising 
duel. William died in 1702, but Queen Anne and her ad- 
visers, chief among whom was the Duke of Marlborough, 
were careful to impose no check upon the rising of the 
English national spirit against the designs of the Bourbon 
monarch 3^ and, ostensibly to prevent the threatened consoli- 
dation of France and Spain, war was begun again within a 
few months. This was the War of the Spanish Succes- 
sion, made forever memorable by the brilliant exploits of 
Marlborough and Prince Eugene on the fields of Blenheim, 
Oudenarde, and jNIalplaquet, and by the final establishment 
of English sovereignty at Gibraltar. In America the old 
war was simply resumed in another series of border forays 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 241 

by the French and Indians, and another more or less 
successful English attack upon the French strongholds in 
Canada. In 1704 occurred the sack of Deerfield, Connecti- 
cut, in which sixteen persons were killed and one hun- 
dred carried away captive. Numerous other massacres 
almost as bad lixed more deeply than ever in the minds of 
the English colonists an undying antipathy to everything 
French. In 1707 Governor Dudley of Massachusetts sent 
an expedition of a thousand men under a certain Colonel 
March for the capture of Port Royal, but it was unsuc- 
cessful. Three years later a force of New England troops, 
aided by a regiment of royal marines, repeated Phips's ex- 
ploit in 1690, and again for a time the English flag waved 
over this favored stronghold of the French. ^ In 1711 a 
large expedition led by an incompetent Englishman by the 
name of Hill failed to reach its objective point — Quebec 
— and at the same time a small army sent against Mon- 
treal was glad to escape annihilation by a hasty retreat. 

In September, 1711, preliminary articles of peace were 
signed in Europe, and in January of the next year tlie 
commissioners of the nations involved began deliberations 
at Utrecht, in Holland. March 31 (April 11, New Style), 
1713, the treaty was definitely concluded. Throughout 
the war France had been gradually losing in Europe. All 
the important battles had gone against her, and the country 
was fast being ruined by the destruction of its people and 
its wealth. As a consequence King Louis — now near the 
end of his long and eventful life — was obliged to see peace 

1 For an early account of the English attacks on Port Royal during the 
course of Queen Anne's War, see Sliea, Charlevoix's Ilistury of New 
France, V. 10!)-172, 102-201, 225-230. 



242 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

made on pretty much such terms as the members of the 
Grand Alliance desired. It has been well said that no 
previous treaty had changed the map of Europe as did 
that of Utrecht.^ The same thing might be said of 
America. Here, as in Europe, the end of the war was 
humiliating enough to the French. Not that the English 
had actually captured and held much American territory; 
but, as has been indicated, England in 1713 found herself 
in a position internationally to impose a severe humiliation 
upon her great rival for the dominance of the western 
world, and she could be depended on to make the most of 
a well-earned opportunity. The territorial provisions of 
the treaty relating to America were as follows : (1) that 
France should yield to England, " to be possessed in full 
right for ever," Hudson Bay and all the neighboring lands 
then under French sovereignty; ("2) that the island of St. 
Christopher and "likewise all Nova Scotia, or Acadie, 
with its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal, 
now called Annapolis Royal, and all other things in those 
parts which depend on the said lands and islands," should 
be given over permanently to the English ; (3) that New- 
foundland should henceforth be wholly English, except 
that the French should have the right to catch and dry 
fish on the coast between Cape Bonavista and Point Riche : 
and (4) that France should retain the island of Cape 
Breton and all other islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
It was further provided that the French population of the 
territories ceded to England should be allowed to move 

1 James H. Eobinson, Histortj of Western Europe, 507. The text of 
the treaty is in Chalmers, Collection of Treaties, I. 340-386. Parts re- 
lating to America are printed in MacDonald, Select Charters, 229-232. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 243 

elsewhere at their pleasure within a year, and those who 
chose to remain and so become British subjects should 
enjoy complete freedom of religion. In the fifteenth arti- 
cle of the treaty France definitely recognized the sov- 
ereignty of Great Britain over the lands of the Iro(|Uois, 
and thus the established bounds of English jurisdiction 
were extended pretty well toward the source of the 
Ohio. 

The treaty of Utrecht is of the utmost importance in 
American history because it clearly marked the first 
stage in the French decadence in the western world. By 
it France for the first time was compelled to yield to her 
rival lands — and lands of no small extent — which she 
had long claimed by every right known to iiiternational 
law, and had fought for with all the pertinacity of which 
her scanty colonial forces were capable. Nevertheless she 
had vast possessions left, larger than even the Engiisli 
had fair right to claim. She still had the St. Lawrence 
Valley, with entire control of the river and the defences in 
the Gulf. All the Great Lake country south of the Hud- 
son Bay region and west of the home of the Iroquois was 
still hers to use as she would. Most of all, the broad 
valley of the Mississippi which La Salle and Iberville had 
labored so ardently to fortify with French outposts was 
as yet but very ineffectively laid claim to by either the 
S})anish or the English. Discouraging as the loss of 
Hudson Bay, Acadia, and Newfoundland undeniably was, 
there was yet abundant opportunity, so far as mere 
extent and wealth of possessions was concerned, to erect 
in America a French power against which the Engiisli 
would long be unable to prevail. If this was to be done, 



244 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

however, France would have to exert herself in a manner 
hitherto unknown. The hard, cold fact .of the matter 
was that if the remaining parts of America were to be 
insured against future loss, the imperial ambitions of the 
French monarchs must transfer the scene of their activi- 
ties from Europe to America — from Spain and Italy and 
the German principalities to the wilderness country of 
the St. Lawrence, the Ohio, and the Mississippi. The 
exhausted finances and depleted military strength of 
France precluded effective activity in both places. The 
supreme question was. Would the sovereign authority be 
wise enough to recognize this truth and far-seeing enough 
to act upon it ? 

The events of the next forty years in Europe abundantly 
demonstrated that as long as the Bourbon monarchy held 
sway at Versailles the change of base had absolutely no 
chance of being made. Philip, Duke of Orleans, Regent 
during the minority of Louis XV., continued the tradi- 
tional policy ; and when Louis himself finally undertook 
to steer the ship of state, it was with no other idea than 
that national aggrandizement at the expense of his coun- 
try's immediate neighbors was above all things else to 
be desired. By the court the interests of the French in 
America were systematically neglected, though not so 
flagrantly as during the later years of Louis XIV. The 
king and his advisers were exceedingly keen to detect an 
opening in the maze of European politics and diplomacy for 
the spreading of Bourbon dominion, but exceedingly blind 
to the grander, though remoter, possibilities of imperial 
foundation in America. Looking over the whole field as 
we now can do, it does not appear likely that any amount 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 245 

of exertion on part of the French coukl have established a 
permanent possession in any considerable part of the west- 
ern hemisphere. The odds were too heavily against such 
an achievement. Yet the laxness of the government can 
hardly be attributed to a discernment of this fact, for 
until the last the king and ministers boasted loudly of 
the humbling of the English which they would accomplish 
in America. The great difficulty was that the distance of 
America and the many more or less inevitable disappoint- 
ments connected with all colonial effort blinded the court 
to the urgency and profitableness of definite concentration 
of energies upon the transmarine portion of the realm. 

During the years from the accession of Frederick the 
Great in 1740 to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, 
France was almost continually involved in the struggle 
between Austria and the rising power of Prussia regard- 
ing the possession of the district of Silesia and the claim 
of Maria Theresa to the Austrian throne. Of course 
these issues were inherently of no great concern to 
France, but King Louis hastened to emulate the example 
of the doughty Frederick by laying claim to a generous 
slice of the Austrian dominion, confidently expecting in 
the end to expand the boundaries of his state quite ma- 
terially toward the east. Other powers, including Spain, 
Savoy, Bavaria, and Saxony, came forward with their 
claims, and erelong the war which had begun simply 
between two fragments of the German people became a 
struggle of continental proportions. In fact, it soon be- 
came much more than continental, for the imperisliable 
anti-Spanish feeling wliich had just l)een displaying itself 
in the War of Jenkins's Ear and the even more eternal 



246 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

anti-French sentiment which was yet an essential part of 
every Englishman's inheritance, quickly involved the 
English nation in the most important portions of the com- 
bat. England's interest in the Silesian and Austrian ques- 
tions was even more remote than that of the French, but 
the mere fact that France was in the war as an enemy of 
Maria Theresa determined the English to enter it, together 
with Holland, as the ally of the Austrians. On the con- 
tinent England played but a minor role, but on the high 
seas and in the colonies the contest was prosecuted with 
vigor. 

In America the war was designated by the name of 
England's ruling sovereign. King George II. It began 
in 1744 with an attack by the French on the English posts 
in Nova Scotia and an unsuccessful attempt to take old 
Port Royal, now known as Annapolis. The energies of 
the British colonies in the north were centred upon the 
defence of the lands which had been gained in the war 
of Queen Anne, together with the greatest military 
enterprise which had yet been executed in America, i.e. 
the capture of Louisburg on the south side of Cape 
Breton Island. Louisburg was the Gibraltar of the north 
Atlantic coasts, and with its possession went the control of 
all the Gulf of St. Lawrence as well as the entrance to 
the river. It was because the French fully appreciated 
this that since 1720 they had spent more than $10,000,000 
in strengthening its fortifications. As a base of naval 
operations in the northern Atlantic it was simply invalu- 
able. The reduction of this fortress by the English was 
the outcome of much careful planning and arduous effort 
on the part of Governor William Shirley of Massacliu- 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 247 

setts. 1 The large body of 4000 troops, gathered for the 
undertaking from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New 
Hampshire, was put under the command of William Pep- 
perell, a man of resolute character and no small degree of 
military genius. An English fleet of three ships under 
command of Commodore Peter Warren cooperated in the 
attack. After a siege of six weeks the fortress was 
obliged to capitulate, though defended by a garrison of 
560 French regulars and Swiss mercenaries and about 
1400 Canadian militia, with at least 150 heavy guns. 
The surrender occurred June 17, 1745.2 " When the news 
was disseminated abroad," writes John Fiske, " the civil- 
ized world was dumb with amazement. For the first time 
it waked up to the fact that a new military power had 
grown up in America. One of the strongest fortresses 
on the face of the earth had surrendered to a force of 
New England militia. Pepperell was at once created a 
baronet, being the only native American who ever attained 
that rank. Warren was promoted to the grade of admiral. 
Louisburg Square in Boston commemorates the victory." ^ 
As another recent writer says, " The victory was celebrated 
in many long and sincere prayers of thanksgiving, and in 
some remarkably bad poetry." ^ 

1 John Fiske regarded William Vaughan, son of a former lieutenant- 
governor of New Hampshire and a leading proprietor on the Damaris- 
cotta River in Maine, as the probable author of the scheme, Kew France 
and Neio England, 250. 

2 See Samuel Curwen, Journal and Letters, edited by George A. Ward. 
Curwen was a Salem man who accompanied Pepperell's expedition. An 
extract from the journal is printed in Hart, American History Told by 

I Contemporaries, II. 346-349. 

^ Fiske, Neio France and New England, 250. 

* Adams and Trent, Uistory of the United States, 78. 



248 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

There was just one other field in which King George's 
war precipitated hostilities in America. This was at the 
opposite extremity of the English and French possessions 
— in the region of Georgia. The granting to James 
Oglethorpe of the charter of Georgia with its provision 
for "sea to sea" claims, June 20, 1732,i had marked a dis- 
tinct epoch in the gradual encroachment of the English 
from the Carolinas in the direction of the French settle- 
ments about Mobile and on the lower Mississippi. In 
1733 Oglethorpe had concluded treaties of friendship with 
the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, and in 
1739 had held an Indian conference at Coweta among the 
Creeks of Alabama. ^ Throughout the years which fol- 
lowed, tlie English continued to push around the southern 
end of the Appalachian ridge in a manner most menac- 
ing to the French. Finally, during the course of King 
George's war, the Georgians actually made a few rather 
desultory attacks upon the French frontiers. These op- 
erations were in themselves of the most insignificant sort, 
but considered in relation to the pending rivalry on the 
Gulf, they were weighted with lessons for the future. 

The war in Europe, and consequently that in America, 
was brought to a close by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 

1 The text of the Georgia charter is in Poore, Federal and State Con- 
stitutions, I. 3G9-377, and in MacDonald, Select Charters, 236-248. 

2 Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 115. On the English encroachnaents by 
way of the Georgia settlements, see Brown, History of Alabama, Ch. V.' 
Pickett, History of Alabama, Ch. VIII. ; and Jones, History of Georgia. 
Vol. I. An interesting contemporary document on the subject is "An 
Account shewing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in America from 
its First Establishment " [London, 1741]. It is printed in the Force 
Tracts, I. No. 5, and in the Georgia Historical Society Collections, 11. 
2G5-310, The original is in the Harvard College Library. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 249 

1748. The end came ratlier more because everybody was 
tired of fighting than because any very substantial results 
had been attained. In Europe Maria Theresa was recog- 
nized by the warring powers as the rightful sovereign of 
Austria, though with the loss of the province of Silesia to 
Frederick the Great. In America, as at the end of King 
"William's war, there was a return to status quo ante helium. 
The fifth article of the treaty tells the story : " All the con- 
quests that have been made since the commencement of 
the war, or which, since the conclusion of the preliminary 
articles, signed the 30th of April last, may have been or 
shall be made, either in Europe or in the East or West 
Indies, or in any other part of the world whatsoever, 
being to be restored without exception, in conformity to 
what was stipulated by the said preliminary articles, and 
by the declarations since signed ; the high contracting 
parties engage to give orders immediately for proceeding 
to that restitution." 1 Special provisions Avere made for 
the deliverance of Cape Breton back to the French, it 
being given practically in exchange for Madras. It was 
but natural that the treaty should be received with great 
disfavor by the English in America. After expending so 
much money and energy, and achieving so brilliant a feat 
as the capture of Louisburg, it was exasperating indeed, 
especially to the people of New England who did the work, 
to behold their beaten rivals restored to full possession of 
all they had lost in the war. But if the conduct of the 
English ministers lent additional force to the ugly sus- 
picion which was already growing up in some parts of 

1 Text of the treaty in Ciialmers, Collection of Trentips, I. 424-442. 
Portions pertaining to America are printed in MacDonald, Select 
Charters, 252-253. 



250 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

America that the colonies were regarded as mere pawns 
by the home government, dependencies to be fostered or 
thwarted at its will, these same ministers were the last 
to appreciate the fact. 

Still the long-standing rivalry of the English and 
French in the western hemisphere was in no sense dimin- 
ished. In fact, with every passing year that rivalry 
became more intense ; and this for two reasons : first, 
because the tradition of conflict was being all the time 
strengthened by the actual occurrences of war, and, sec- 
ond, because the natural growth of the two peoples was 
bringing them into a closeness of relations quite unknown 
in the time of Louis XIV. In the words of Fiske, the 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle " provided only a short breath- 
ing spell before the numerous unsettled questions gave 
rise to another and far greater war.''^ This greater war 
was, of course, the so-called French and Indian War, — the 
contest really decisive of the future control of America. 
Hitherto the fortunes of the Mississippi Valley had been 
scarcely at all affected by the wars for dominance in the 
East and North. The seat of conflict had been far re- 
moved, and however many times Acadia and Nova Scotia 
had been overrun by hostile forces, conquered, tossed 
back and forth by the diplomats of Europe, reconquered, 
and rent asunder by conflicting parties, not an acre of 
French lands in the Middle West had been touched by a 
martial invader (except, perhaps, for the few desultory 
movements in the South during the war of King George), 
and in no one of the treaties in conclusion of the various 
stages of the struggle had the Mississippi country been so 
1 Fiske, New France and Xeiv England^ 258. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 251 

much as mentioned. Now, however, a new era was dawn- 
ing, and one of immensely wider interests. The French 
and Indian War was mostly an eastern war, it is true, 
but it received its main impetus from the desires of both 
the contending parties to control the great Ohio gateway 
to the West. In fact, it may be said with truth that 
the main theatre of the struggle was the valley of the 
Ohio. On the one hand, the English were attempting 
to occupy this region, not merely because of its intrinsic 
value, but also because through it they might enter the 
wedge which would eventually sever the French posses- 
sions in the South from those in the North. On the other 
hand, the French were jealous of any such extension of 
Anglo-Saxon control, and resolved to forestall the English- 
men's designs in this direction. 

The first important move in the contest was the organiza- 
tion of the Ohio Company in 1748, the year of the close of 
the inconclusive war of King George.^ It appears that the 
tide-water gentry of Virginia, who were the prime pro- 
moters of this enterprise, were influenced rather more by 
the hope of outwitting the Pennsylvanians in the securing 
of the Ohio trade than by the thought of circumventing 
the French. But the English Board of Trade, in recom- 
mending the project to King George, laid special stress 
on the serviceableness of such a company in realizing 
England's transmontane claims. May 19, 1749, a royal 

1 Howison, History of Virginia, I. Ch. VIII. ; Campbell, History of 
Virginia, Ch. LIX. ; Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags, Ch. III.; 
and Berthold Fernow, The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, Chs. IV. and 
V. In Appendix D of the last-mentioned work are papers relating to the 
Ohio Company taken from the Archives of the Board of Trade and Plan- 
tations in London. 



252 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

order placed at the disposal of the company two hundred 
thousand acres south of the Ohio and between the Monon- 
gahela and the Kanawha, to be rent-free for ten years, on 
condition that a hundred families should be settled within 
seven years and a fort built and maintained. It was 
understood that if these conditions were complied with at 
the end of the seven years, the full grant of fifty thousand 
acres which had been asked for would be forthcoming. 

The announcement of this enterprise aroused the suspi- 
cion and fears of the French. Manifestly the English 
were ready to begin their long-dreaded expansion beyond 
the AUeghanies. The " sea to sea" charters would be 
revived, and no one could tell where the movement would 
stop. " Every man of sense," writes a contemporary 
French captain, "who is conversant with the manner in 
which war can be carried on in that country will agree 
with me that all the resources of the state will never 
preserve Canada, if the English are once settled at the 
heads of these western rivers." ^ The Marquis de la 
Galissonniere, the new governor at Quebec, was among 
the first to perceive the import of the Ohio Company's 
designs,^ and in June, 1749, he sent Celoron de Bienville 
from Montreal with instructions to traverse the Ohio Val- 
ley, take formal possession of it, ascertain what might be 
expected from the natives, and drive off such English trad- 
ers as might be found there. Everything possible was to 
be done to overcome the disadvantage France incurred by 

1 Dumas, 3Iemoire ; quoted in Winsor, Tlie 3fississippi Basin, 251. 
Dumas was subsequently in command at Fort Duquesne. 

2 M. de la Galissonniere, " Memoir of the French Colonies in North 
America," in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, X. 220-232. 



rii THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 253 

being so late to begin operations in this region. Celoron's 
force included twenty French soldiers, somewhat more 
than a hundred voyageurs^ and thirty Iroquois and ALe- 
nakis. It was provided with a considerable number of 
leaden plates, about eleven inches long, seven and a half 
inches wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick, on each of 
which an inscription in French was engraved or stamped 
in capital letters, with blanks left for the insertion of the 
names of the rivers at the juncture of which with the 
Ohio they should be deposited, and the dates of their 
deposit. The party left La Chine on the 15th of June, 
1749, reached Fort Niagara July 6, and crossed the port- 
age from Lake Erie by way of Lake Chautauqua to the 
Allegheny River, arriving there about the end of July. 
From the Allegheny the travellers passed out upon the 
Ohio. 

Much to his regret Celoron was obliged to recognize 
that not only the Iroquois, but also the Miamis, Delawares, 
Shaw .lees, and other Indians along the waj', were much 
more attached to the English than to the French. This 
was but natural, inasmuch as they had hitherto had no 
dealings with the latter, while they had long been visited 
by English traders who sold goods so cheaply that the 
natives felt themselves the gainers by every transaction.^ 
Nevertheless, while meeting on every hand with rebuffs, 
Celoron proceeded to take possession at various points and 
to bury his plates bearing the inscription : " We have 
placed this plate here as a memorial of the establishment 

1 C. W. Butterfield, " History of Ohio ; English Intorosts Paramount 
among the Ohio Savages," in the 3Iagazine of Western History, VI. 103- 
117. 



254 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of our power in the territory which is claimed by us on 
the river Ohio and throughout its tributaries to its sources, 
and confirmed to us by the treaties of Ryswick, Utrecht, 
and Aix-la-Chapelle."i In August two bands of Eng- 
lish traders were encountered, and by each of them Celoron 
sent a warning, to the governor of Virginia in one case 
and of South Carolina in the other, that if the English 
persisted in intruding on the uj)per Ohio it would become 
necessary for the French to expel them by force. The 
latter part of Celoron's route lay by way of the Great 

1 " One or two of these plates have since been unearthed. That which 
was buried near the mouth of the Muskingum was found by some boys in 
the early years of this [nineteenth] century. It was protruding from a 
bank which had been washed by the current. The youngsters melted 
a part of it to make bullets, and the remaining fragment is yet preserved 
in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. Another was discovered near the mouth of the Kanawha 
in 1846." Winsor, The 3Iississippi Basin, 254. It is interesting to 
observe that one of the plates fell into the hands of the English as early 
as 1750. In December of that year Governor Clinton of New York wrote 
to the Lords of Trade in London that he " would send to their Lordships 
in two or three weeks a plate of lead, full of writing, which some of the 
upper nations of Indians stole from Jean Coeur [Joncaire], the French 
interpreter at Niagara, on his way to the river Ohio, which river, and all 
the lands thereabouts, the French claim, as will appear by said writing. 
. . . The lead plate gave the Indians so much uneasiness that they im- 
mediately despatched some of the Cayuga chiefs to me with it, saying 
that their only reliance was on me, and earnestly begged that I would 
comnumicate the contents thereof to them, which I did, much to their 
satisfaction and the interests of the English. . . . The contents of the 
plate may be of great importance in clearing up the encroachments 
which the French have made on the British Empire in America." 
O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, IX. 604. A facsimile of 
one of Cfloron's plates is given in the Pennsylvania Archives, S^econd 
Series, VI. 80. It is reproduced in Winsor, Narrative and Critical His- 
tory, V. 9. See also the Dinwiddle Papers, in the Collections of the 

Virginia Historical Society, I. 95, and Parkman, 3Iontcalm and 

Wolfe, I. 62. 



vii THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 255 

Miami, ^luskingum, and Maumee to Detroit, which was 
reached October 6.^ The report which he made on his 
return Avas not very encouraging. As for the Indians, 
all he could say was that they were nowhere " kindly 
disposed to the French " and were " wholly friends of the 
English." The news of the failure of the expedition spread 
through Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and Carolina, 
where it occasioned general rejoicing. In the meantime 
Galissonniere had been recalled, believing firmly that war 
with the English was inevitable, and had been succeeded 
in the governorship at Quebec by Admiral Jonquiere. 

1 Authorities on C^loron's trip are as satisfactory as could be wished — 
a thing rarely to be said in the histoiy of American exploration. They 
are : (1) C^loron's journal, preserved in the Archives of the Marine at 
Paris and published in Orsamus H. Marshall, Historical Writings, 237- 
273, and (2) the journal of Father Bonnecamps, a Jesuit professor of 
mathematics and hydrography at the College of Quebec, who accompanied 
the expedition. The latter document is also in the Marine Archives at 
Paris. Mr. Marshall says that in another department of the Archives he 
found "a large MS. map, 31^ by 34^ inches square, representing the 
country through which the expedition passed, including the St. Lawrence 
westward of Montreal, Lakes Erie and Ontario, the territory south of 
those lakes as far as the Ohio, and the whole course of that river from the 
source of the Allegheny to the mouth of the Great Miami. This map 
forms an important illustration of the expedition. On it are delineated 
by appropriate characters the points where leaden plates were deposited, 
wliere the latitudes and longitudes were observed, and the localities of the 
Indian villages visited on tlie route." Historical Writim/s, 240. There 
is a reproduction of the map in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, 
V. ;')09. On C^loron's expedition, see Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, I. 
Ch. II. ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V. Ch. I., and The 
Mississippi Basin, 252-256 ; O. H. Marshall, " De C^loron's Expedition 
to the Ohio in 1749," in the Magazine of American History, II. 12i)-15(); 
Ilulbert, Historic Highways of America, VII. Ch. IV. ; C. W. Buttcrfield, 
" History of Ohio,"' in the Magazine of Western History, VI. 1-17 ; and 
T. J. Chapman, "Celoron's Voyage down the Allegheny," in the Maga- 
zine of Western History, V. 402-4(37. 



256 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Celoron's trip through the Ohio country, while quite 
lacking in the results hoped for by Galissonniere, was 
nevertheless a very effective declaration of the French 
purpose to establish the rule of the Bourbon on the west- 
ern slopes of the Alleghanies. As a challenge of posses- 
sion it was immediately understood and accepted by the 
English. Even while Celoron was yet on the march, the 
Virginian council authorized the company recently formed 
to survey its land grant and proceed with the settlement 
of colonists. The work of surveying was undertaken in 
March, 1750, by Dr. Thomas Walker. Leading his party 
across the Alleghanies from the Shenandoah Valley, he 
pushed his way along Walker's Creek and Clinch River 
to Cumberland Gap, and thence up tiie Cumberland River 
toward the Ohio. The house which the surveyors built 
on a cleared spot in the forest was probably the first 
constructed by Europeans within the present bounds of 
Kentucky. Maps and charts were prepared and desirable 
sites marked off for the guidance of future immigrants. ^ 

The more important routes into the Ohio Valley lay 
farther to the north.^ The main point of departure was 

1 Walker's journal of this expedition was printed at Boston in 1888, 
under the editorship of W^ilHam Cabell Rives, with the title, Journal of 
an Exploration in the Spring of the Year 1750, by Dr. Thomas Walker 
of Virginia. This edition of the journal was incomplete. The docu- 
ment entire is printed in the Filson Club Publications, No. XIII. [Louis- 
ville, 1898]. This edition was prepared by J. Stoddard Johnston, vice- 
president of the Filson Club. 

2 On the Ohio Valley routes, see Archer B. Hulbert, Waterways of 
Westward Expansion: the Ohio Biver and its Tributaries; Ellen C. 
Semple, American History and its Geographical Conditions; A. Iluidc- 
koper, "Indian and French History in Western Pennsylvania," in the 
Magazine of American History, I. 683, and II. 52 ; and Berthold Fer- 
now. The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 257 

the junction of the Allegheny and ]\Ionongahela rivers, 
where the city of Pittsburg has since risen, but which 
at the time of the Ohio Company's organization was occu- 
pied merely by an Indian village of some fifty or sixty 
people. In the days when natural routes of travel and 
trade alone determined the trend of commerce and migra- 
tion, this river junction was one of the most strategic 
places of the American interior. As the real head of 
the Ohio River it commanded the approach to that great 
waterway, as well as to all the two hundred thousand 
square miles of territory drained by it and its numer- 
ous affluents. This fact of itself was sufficient to make 
" the Forks " a storm-centre in the French and English 
conflict for possession of the northeastern part of the 
Mississippi Valley. 

Beginning with 1750, events on the upper Ohio rapidly 
bore out the prediction of Governor Galissonniere that 
war must be the early result of such intense international 
rivalry. Both sides appreciated the significance of the 
contest and prepared for it with ardor. On their part 
tlie English had the advantage of the friendship of most 
of the Indians, as well as a better acquaintance with the 
territory in dispute. In a measure this advantage was 
offset by the fact that the Pennsylvanians were jealous of 
the Virginians, as were also the Marylanders, and in gen- 
eral there was a notable lack of harmony and unity among 
tlie seaboard colonies. The feeling was prevalent that 
Virginia proposed to monopolize the West, that the Ohio 
Company was simply a tool in her hands for this purpose, 
and that the other colonies might after all find themselves 
deprived of the profit arising from a joint war against 
s 



258 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the French. Nevertheless, racial pride triumphed over 
sectional jealousy, and when it came to the supreme test 
the English stood fairly well together. 

Exploration and settlement beyond the Alleghanies pro- 
gressed rapidly after 1750. In that and the following 
year Christopher Gist, as an agent of the company, visited 
the Miamis, Shawnees, and Delawares, in Ohio, with the 
result that Picktown (or Pickawillany) on the Big Miami, 
150 miles from its mouth, was founded and became 
the westernmost station of the English. ^ The Indians 
were reported to be "at present very well affected 
toward the English and fond of their alliance with them." 
Through scouts sent out about the same time. Governor 
Hamilton of Pennsylvania had likewise come to the con- 
clusion that the Indians could be depended on as allies in 
the coming struggle. In April, 1751, the Shawnees and 
Miamis sent a request to the Pennsylvania authorities to 
fortify the forks of the Ohio for the protection both of 
themselves and of the English traders. The dominance 
of the Quaker element, however, compelled Governor 
Hamilton to reply to the petition that " those who have 
the disposition of the public money are entirely averse." 
In June, 1752, the Indians, in a conference at Logstown 



1 R. W. McFarland, "Forts Laramie and Pickawillany," in the Ohio 
Archmological and HMorical Publications, VIII. 479-486. For Gist's 
instructions, see appendix of Pownal, Topographical Description of 
North America [London, 1776]. Gist's journal is published in the Collec- 
tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, V. 101-108, 
and in the Filson Club Publications, No. XIII. Much other original ma- 
terial on the expeditions of Gist and his Pennsylvanian companion, George 
Croghan, are in O'Callaghan, Neio York Colonial Documents, Vol. VII., 
and the Colonial Becords of Pennsylvania, Vol. V. 



vii THE STRUGGLE EOR POSSESSION 259 

on the upper Ohio, made the same request of Virginia. ^ 
The result was that before the end of that year twelve 
English families had established themselves on the lower 
Monongahela, and Gist had been instructed to erect a 
town and fort four miles below the Ohio's forks. 

At the same time the French were vigilant and active. 
In December, 1750, Galissonniere had warned the minis- 
try that Canada and Louisiana were in immediate danger 
of being wedged apart by the English aggressions on the 
Ohio. Recognizing the more substantial character of 
English colonization, he prophesied the early extinction 
of French power in the Mississippi Valley unless more 
vigorous measures were adopted, new posts established, 
agriculture and settled conditions of life fostered, and the 
friendship of the Indians maintained at any cost. The 
new governor, Jonquiere, acquiesced fully in these views. 
The two points which the French made most use of as 
bases of operation in the maintenance of the Ohio Valley 
were Niagara and Detroit. From Montreal the most 
direct route into the disputed country was by way of 
Niagara and the portages between eastern Lake Erie and 
the Allegheny River ; while Detroit commanded the por- 
tages between the Maumee, western Lake Erie, and the 
tributaries of the Ohio. In 1750 the population of the 
post at Detroit numbered about five hundred, though not 
fewer than two thousand more of the surrounding Indians 
were under the immediate control of the French. After 
becoming governor, Jonquiere had adopted a very aggres- 
sive policy against the English on Lake Ontario, and by 

' Official records of Governor Dinwiddle in Virginia Historical Society 
Collections. I. 0-22. 



260 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

threatening the destruction of Oswego had impelled 
Governor Clinton of New York to call the Albany con- 
ference of 1751 to concert measures of defence ; but the 
French administrator died the following year, before 
hostilities had been commenced, and the prevalence of 
smallpox and a great scarcity of provisions among the 
Canadians saved the English yet a while from attack in 
the East. In the West, however, the post at Picktown 
was assaulted in 1752 by Celoron's lieutenant, Lang- 
lade, at the head of a force of 240 French and Indians 
from Detroit, with the result that the English Avere 
expelled and the valleys of the Maumee and Miami left 
entirely open to exploitation by the French. ^ 

In July, 1752, the Marquis Duquesne de Menneville, the 
new governor of Canada, arrived at Quebec. The instruc- 
tions which he carried attested the disposition of the home 
government to maintain claims at least as large as those 
set up by Galissonniere, and on the same grounds, i.e. the 
alleged explorations of La Salle on the Ohio in 1670. ^ 
"The river Ohio," it was declared, "otherwise called tlie 
Beautiful River, and its tributaries belong indisputably to 
France, by virtue of its discovery by Sieur de La Salle ; of 

1 H. S. Knapp, HMory of the Maumee Valley, Cli. I. Langlade is 
worthy of note as having been the leader of the first permanent settlement 
in the present state of Wisconsin, in 1744-1746. See Wisconsin Historical 
Collections^ III. 197 ; M. M. Strong, Territory of Wisconsin, 41 ; and 
Joseph S. Walton, Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial 
Pennsylvania, Ch. XIII. 

2 Duquesne's instructions are printed in O'Callaghan, New York Colo- 
nial Documents, X. 242-245. An extract from the document is in Hart, 
American History Told by Contemporaries, II. 354-356. C. W. Butter- 
field, " History of Ohio ; the Ohio Valley invaded by the French," in the 
Magazine of Western History, VI. 413-424. 



II 



vii THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 261 

the trading-posts the French have had there since, and of 
possession which is so much the more unquestionable as 
it constitutes the most frequent communication from Can- 
ada to Louisiana. It is only within a few years that the 
English have undertaken to trade there ; and now they 
pretend to exclude us from it. They have not, up to the 
present time, however, maintained that these rivers belong 
to them ; they pretend only that the Iroquois are mas- 
ters of them, and being the sovereigns of these Indians, 
that they can exercise their rights. But "tis certain that 
these Indians have none, and that, besides, the pretended 
sovereignty of the English over them is a chimera. 
Meanwhile 'tis of the greatest importance to arrest the 
progress of the pretensions and expeditions of the English 
in that quarter. Should they succeed there, they would 
cut off the communication between the two colonies of 
Canada and Louisiana, and would be in a position to 
trouble them, and to ruin both the one and the other, 
independent of the advantages they would at once experi- 
ence in their trade to the prejudice of ours.*' The garri- 
sons Avere therefore to be put in better order, the thirteen 
thousand militia which Canada was capable of raising 
were to be systematically drilled, and every preparation 
was to be made for occupying the contested territory 
by whatever degree of force might prove necessary. 
The conditions of European politics portended an early 
war between England and France, and no time Avas to 
be lost in making ready for the conflict in America, 
where the really main interests of both nations would 
lie. 

A few months after the coming of Duquesne, Governor 



262 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Dinwiddle of Virginia appealed to the English Board of 
Trade for assistance in establishing forts on the Ohio. 
The junction of the Allegheny and Monougahela, he 
declared, must be secured without further delay. The 
French might appear there any day. Cannon were asked 
for, to be used in the defence of the place, and the two 
routes of travel thither from the Potomac and from 
Philadelphia were carefully described. But the race was 
not destined to be won by the English. Even before 
Dinwiddle's aj^peal was transmitted to London Duquesne 
had sent out a force under Sleur de Marin to begin the 
work of fortifying the line which Celoron had marked off 
with his leaden plates three years before. The first es- 
tablishment was a stockade known as Fort Le Bceuf, on 
the site of modern Waterford, Pennsylvania. Venango, 
the Forks, Logstown, and Beaver Creek were other points 
whose early settlement was embraced in the French plan. 
It mattered not that the English already had a post at 
Logstown and a monoj)oly of trade with the Indian 
village at the Forks. " I tvill go down the river, and I 
will build upon it," was the unequivocal declaration of 
Marin when a chieftain by the name of Half-King pro- 
tested on behalf of the English. The indomitable French- 
man died at his post in October, 1753, but Legardeur de 
Saint-Pierre took his place, and the ardor of the settlers 
suffered no diminution. ^ 

Believing that the interests of the English demanded 
an immediate forcing of the issue. Governor Dinwiddle 

1 For a concise statement of the French position relative to tlie posses- 
sion of the Ohio Valley about 1752, see the " Royal Ministerial Minutes," 
in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, X. 242-244. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 263 

determined to make a formal demand upon the French to 
withdraw from the upper Ohio country. Under date of 
October 30, 1753, instructions were issued to George 
Washington, then adjutant-general of the Virginia mili- 
tia, to carry a letter by way of the post at Logstown to 
the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, and make a 
careful study of French strength and numbers on the 
tributaries of the Ohio.^ The incidents of the young 
Virginian's hazardous journey are the commonplaces of 
schoolboy lore.^ On the whole the trip was very success- 
ful, but the report placed in Dinwiddle's hands after its 
accomplishment was such as to confirm his worst appre- 
hensions regarding the magnitude of the impending con- 
flict. From Joncaire, in command at the newly established 
Venango, Washington had received detailed information 
as to the ambitious plans of the French in the region, and 
by Saint-Pierre, the commander at Le Boeuf, he had been 
given a courteous but absolutely uncompromising refusal 
to consider Dinwiddle's demand for evacuation. The 
natural conclusion was, therefore, that nothing remained 
for the English but to yield ignominiously to their rivals 
or employ force. The first alternative was out of the 
question — at least it was so considered by Virginia's 

1 The text of the letter is in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Docu- 
ments, X. 258. 

- Tlie original authority on it is The Journal of Major George Wash- 
ington, sent by the Hon. Robert Dinioiddie, Esq., His Majestifs Lieutenant- 
Governor and Commander-in-chief of Virginia, to the Commandant of the 
French Forces in Ohio ; to lohich are added the Governor's Letter and a 
Translation of the French Officer's Answer [Williamsburg, 1754]. It is 
reprinted in Sparlcs, Life and Writings of Washington, II. 432-4.37. See 
T. J. Chapman, '* Washington's First Public Service," in the Magazine 
of American History, XIV'. 249-257. 



264 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPIT chap. 

proud and ambitious governor ; the second must be 
adopted. 

From that moment war was a question of but a few 
months' time. Letters were sent to all the leading colo- 
nies asking for cooperation, ^ and, though intercolonial 
jealousies rendered the responses very uncertain and in 
some cases wholly unsympathetic, Dinwiddle pressed for- 
ward his war measures as if Virginia were willing to 
enter the contest quite alone. With remarkable skill he 
brought his colonial assembly to the point of voting 
.£10,000 for the war and promising land bounties to all 
who should enlist. In February, 1754, he issued a procla- 
mation in which he agreed to divide among the soldiers 
not less than two hundred thousand acres of Virginia's 
western claims. On the 17th of this same month an 
agent by the name of William Trent began work on the 
establishment of an English stockade at the Forks. ^ 
Within a few weeks Colonel Joshua Fry, with Wash- 
ington second in command, was sent thither with a com- 
pany of troops to protect the carpenters at their work and 
subsequently to occupy the fort.^ "It will be easier to 
prevent the French settling than to dislodge them when 

1 These letters are printed in the Virginia Historical Society Collec- 
tions [Dinwiddie Papers], I. 61-88. 

2 Letter of Governor Dinwiddie to Captain William Trent, transmitting 
his commission and giving him instructions, in Virginia Historical Society 
Collections [Dinvi'iddie Papers], I. 55-56. See the Jo^irnal of Captain 
William Trent from Logstown to Pickawillany in 1752, edited by Alfred 
T. Goodman, and published at Cincinnati in 1871. 

^ Governor Dinwiddle's instructions to Major Washington, in Virginia 
Historical Society Collections [Dinwiddie Papers], I. 59 ; instructions to 
Fry, ibid, 88. Dinwiddle's call for volunteers for the expedition is in 
Berthold Fernow, The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, 97. 



vir THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 2(5-3 

settled," declared Dinwiddle ; and it was to this task of 
prevention that lie was directing his most immediate 
attention. 

But the work had been begun a little too late and, 
moreover, had to be pursued with exasperating slowness. 
The advance of the expedition was extremely difficult. 
Sometimes the mere clearing of the way was such a task 
that not more than a mile could be covered in a day. 
When Will's Creek, about 140 miles from the Forks, was 
reached. Colonel Fry fell sick, and the chief command 
devolved upon Washington. After several days of delay 
the undaunted band of Virginians resumed the march. 
Already too much precious time had been lost, how- 
ever, for while he was yet on the road the news came 
to Washington that the uncompleted post at the Forks 
had been attacked by a detachment of French under 
Contrecceur and its defenders compelled to surrender. 
All that Washington could do was to advance into the 
vicinity of the lost fortification and, with his 150 men, 
take up what seemed to be a strong position at a place 
called Great Meadows. From the Indian ally, Half- 
King, a dependent of the Iroquois, it was learned that 
a band of Frenchmen was in the vicinity awaiting an 
opportunity to surprise the Virginians and defeat them. 
Washington resolved himself to effect the surprise, which 
he did with such success that ten of the French, includ- 
: ing the commander, Jumonville, were killed and the 
other twenty-two taken captive. The post at the Forks 
. having been lost, Washington proceeded to establish 
,1 another one — Fort Necessity, at Great Meadows — as 
1 a base of operations in the contemplated campaign of 



266 THE OrEXING OE THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

recovery. Within a short time 150 more Virginians and 
Carolinians arrived. An equal number of Indians under 
Half-King were also at Wasliington's command. Never- 
theless, the French had been rapidly increasing their 
strength at the head waters of the Ohio and still greatly 
outnumbered the English. At the Forks there were 
not fewer than 1400 men. Early in July, 1751:. Coulon 
de Villiers, brother of Jumonville, advanced against 
Fort Necessity with a force of 000 troops. Against 
almost double their numbers the English made a stub- 
born resistance until the exhaustion of their supplies com- 
pelled a surrender. On condition that the twenty-two 
captives of Jumonville's party be set free, AVashington's 
army was allowed to march away with the honors of war. 
The surrender occurred July 4.^ The disheartened little 
army turned to retrace its steps across the Alleghanies, 
while the victorious French set rapidly about completing 
the fort at the Forks. The place now received the mem- 
orable name, Duquesne, which it was to bear through the 
few strenuous years of its tenure by the French. Judged 
by its prologue, the struggle for the possession of the 
Ohio Valley bade fair to be humiliating indeed for the 
English. Xevertheless, the most superficial comparison 
of the resources and possibilities of the two contestants 
reveals the fact that all that was necessary in order that 
victory be finally on the side of the English was that they 

1 Oil the Great Meadows expedition, see Washington's reports to 
Governor Dinwiddie in Virginia Historical Society Collections [Din- 
widdie Papers]. I. 171 et seq. : H. C. Lodge. George Washington. I. 
Ch. III.; and Parknian. Montcalm and Wolfe. I. Ch. V. The terms 
of capitulation at Fort Necessity are in the Pennsylvania Archives, II. 
146-147. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 267 

be awakened to the critical importance of the conflict and 
constrained for a time to bury their internal jealousies and 
animosities. 

The Great Meadows campaign practically marked the 
beginning" of the so-called French and Indian War — a 
contest destined in effect to determine the ownership of 
the Mississippi Valley. It should be observed that there 
had as yet been no declaratit)n of war by either combatant. 
The Seven Years' War in Europe, with which the French 
and Indian War in America was closely parallel, did not 
begin until many months after Washington's retreat from 
Fort Necessity, war not being declared, as a matter of fact, 
until the spring of 1756. For two years this anomalous 
conflict was waged in America, in India, and on the high 
seas, while the great powers of Europe were arranging 
themselves in a new set of alliances. During the single 
year of 1755 three hundred French vessels and more than 
seven thousand French sailors were captured and carried 
into British ports. The prime objects of the British Gov- 
ernment, now dictated mainly by Walpole, were to make 
England's maritime supremacy even more decisive and to 
increase her colonial empire in both hemispheres at the ex- 
pense of the French. In the estimation of Walpole these 
objects could best be attained by the severance of close 
relations with Austria and by forming an alliance with 
the aggressive Frederick of Prussia. A treaty between 
the two powers was therefore made, Januar}' 15, 1756. 
This, of course, practically forced a counter alliance of 
France and Austria, which was formed by the treaty of 
Versailles, signed INIay 1, 1756. With this complete rever- 
sal of traditional English and P""rench policies the war in 



268 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Europe had its formal beginning. Spain became involved 
only at a later date. 

It should be observed that at the opening of the war in 
America there was no well-defined plan on the part of even 
the most aggressive of the English, as Governor Dinwiddle, 
to drive the French completely from American soil. Such 
an undertaking would have seemed chimerical in the ex- 
treme. The object of the English was simply to prevent 
the French from acquiring possession of the Ohio Valley, 
and thus consolidating their hold upon the interior. If 
the French should gain the Ohio, they would thereby 
have bridged the chasm between Canada and Louisiana. 
If, on the other hand, the English should acquire the 
disputed territory, they would be in a position to en- 
force the isolation of the two great French quarters of the 
western world and weaken them proportionally. This, 
then, was the issue upon which the war was begun. 

For a time both sides thought it worth while to appeal 
to the authority of maps and earlier treaties. In Feb- 
ruary, 1755, Louis XV. 's agents proposed a compromise 
whereby all lands east of the AUeghanies should belong 
to England, and all west of the Allegheny River and 
north of the Ohio should fall to France. The lands 
between the crest of the mountains and the Allegheny, 
and those south of the Ohio, were to be left neutral. 
The following month England agreed to this, on condi- 
tion that the French destroy their posts on the Allegheny 
and the Ohio. Since to do so would break her line of 
fortifications and at the same time give the English a ma- 
terial advantage in the neutral country, France promptly 
refused. There was also a good deal of quibbling over 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR TOSSESSION 269 

the terms of the treaty of Utrecht, but in the end both 
parties to the conflict came to recognize that nothing but 
superior strength in arms would be effectual in maintain- 
ing a claim to the Ohio. 

From the English point of view the opening years of 
the French and Indian War were most discouraging-. ^ 
This was due, in the first place, to the military reversals 
of the period. The failure to secure the site of Fort 
Duquesne has been mentioned. This turn of fortune re- 
vealed in some degree to the English ministry the critical 
character of the contest in the upper Ohio Valley, and two 
regiments of five hundred men each, under command of 
Major- General Edward Braddock, were despatched to the 
aid of the Virginians. ^ They arrived at the colonial capi- 
tal, Williamsburg, in February, 1755, where plans were 
perfected for an early capture of Duquesne. The other 
source of discouragement was the lack of a cooperative 
spirit among the colonists, and a disposition to allow petty 
jealousies and ill-timed policies of economy to defeat the 
purposes of such far-seeing leaders as Dinwiddle and 
Washington. It was with the greatest difficulty that the 
governors could bring their assemblies to the point of 
appropriating any such sums of money for the impending 

1 General accounts of the French and Indian War may be referred to as 
follows : Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol. III. ; Lecky, History 
of England in the Eighteenth Century, II. Ch. VIII. ; Kingsford, His- 
tory of Canada, Vol. IV. ; Woodrow Wilson, History of the American 
Peoples II. 77-96 ; Charles C. Smith, Acadia and Cape Breton ; Fiske, 
Neio France and Neiu England, 258-3o9 ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical 
History, V. Ch. VIII. ; and Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe. 

2 Secret instructions to General Braddock, November 25, 1754, in 
O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, VI. 920-922, and in the 
Pennsylvania Archives, II, 203-207. 



270 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

war as were clearly needed, if success was to be hoped for. 
The Virginia House of Burgesses hindered Dinwiddle at 
every turn. " Those canny planters," says Fiske, " were 
loath to put much money into the governor's hands, lest 
he should make an improper use of it. At one time they 
would refuse the appropriation asked for, at another time 
they would grant a sum too small to be of much use, and 
yet again they would grant a sufficient sum, while attach- 
ing to the bill a rider concerning some long-disputed ques- 
tion, which they knew would elicit an angry veto from the 
governor. Similarly in Pennsylvania the Assembly re- 
fused money for military purposes, in order to wring from 
the governor some concession with regard to the long- 
vexed question of taxing proprietary lands. Moreover, 
the Assembly at Philadelphia was not quite sure that it 
was worth while to raise troops for taking Fort Duquesne 
from the French, if it should thereby fall into the possession 
of Virginia. It was with difficulty that these representa- 
tive bodies could be made to see anything that required 
any breadth of vision. Moreover, they were used to con- 
tending against their governors ; in the eyes of most rep- 
resentatives that was the sole object for which legislatures 
existed, but they were not accustomed to devote much 
thought to the French as enemies, nor had they as yet 
learned very well Avhat it meant to be invaded by Ind- 
ians." ^ It should be said, however, that in the north — 
especially in New York and Massachusetts — the horrors of 
a French and Indian war were very real, and it was there by 
no means so difficult to organize an effective resistance. 

1 John Fiske, Neio France and Nexo England, 277-278. See also 
Fernow, The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, Ch. V. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 271 

The war which began about the head waters of the 
Ohio gave promise of being by far the most serious and 
far-reaching conflict yet waged in America. The strug- 
gle was no longer between New England and New France 
alone ; it had assumed continental proportions. Hostili- 
ties were begun in an entirely new field, and on such a 
scale that they could not fail to involve vast regions of 
the interior country. Nothing could be clearer to the 
English leaders than that if the great outburst of French 
energy in the upper valley of the Ohio after 1748 was to 
be repressed, there must be a union of effort, such as three 
intercolonial wars had utterly failed to develop. As one 
means to this end, a congress of all the colonies was called 
to meet at Albany in the summer of 1754 to treat with 
the Iroquois, whose friendship must be preserved at all 
odds, and to consider ways and means for dealing with 
the French aggressions. Although the situation was so 
critical only seven of the colonies were represented at 
the meeting. 1 This was the occasion on which Franklin 
brought forward his memorable plan of union, — a device 
which, had it been adopted, would not only have facilitated 
the prosecution of the French war, but might perhaps, as 
its author still believed in 1789, have averted the rebellion 
of the colonies against England in 1775. The plan, how- 

1 For the "Proceedings of the Colonial Congress held at Albany," see 
O'Callaghan, Netv York Colonial Documents, VI. 853-892 ; also the 
" Representations of Certain English Ministers to the King on these Pro- 
ceedings,'' ibid., 916-920 ; Franklin's plan of colonial union is in the 3Iin- 
utcs of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, VI, 105-108. See also 
Stephen Hopkins, " A True Representation of the Plan formed at Albany, 
in 1754, for Uniting all the British Northern Colonies," in the Phode 
Island Historical Tracts, No. IX. ; Frothingham, Pise of the Republic, 
132-157 ; and Bancroft, History of the United States, II. Ch. V. 



272 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ever, was not accepted by any one of the colonies, the time 
for union being not yet ripe, and as a consequence the war 
was entered upon with a most humiliating lack of harmony 
and cooperation. It was only by the aid of armies from 
England that any considerable measure of success was 
attained. Presumably the war would benefit the colonists 
more than anybody else, yet they were niggardly alike as 
to men, money, and supplies. It was on this account 
mainly that the plan of imposing a tax upon them by the 
British Parliament now began to grow rapidly in favor 
among the king's party. 

The course of the war lay almost wholly outside the 
section of tlie country with which tliis book primarily 
deals. It would therefore be wandering too far afield to 
attempt more than a very brief summary of the military 
operations by which the cause of the French in America 
was finally brought to ruin. The English settled them- 
selves to the conflict in 1755, with the design of sending 
four distinct expeditions against the French, as follows : 
one against Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in New 
York, and thence against Quebec ; another, from New 
England, by water, against Cape Breton and other French 
possessions in the northeast ; the third, from Albany 
against Niagara ; and the fourth, from Fort Cumberland 
in Maryland against Fort Duquesne. This last expedi- 
tion was put in charge of General Braddock, and was 
begun in June, 1755. Owing to Braddock's personal inca- 
pacity, the total lack of acquaintance of the English regu- 
lars with the Indian mode of warfare, and the roughness 
and impenetrableness of the country through which the 
advance had to be made, the expedition ended in over- 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 273 

whelming disaster. July 9 the army was set upon by 
French and Indians who fought from ambush, and Brad- 
dock, scorning to allow his men to adopt the mode of fight- 
ing employed by their unseen foes, fell on the field with a 
large proportion of his following. ^ Under Washington's 
leadership the survivors effected a rapid but orderly re- 
treat. The most important of the four contemplated 
attacks upon the French had ended in ignominy, and the 
Bourbon hold upon the valley of the Ohio seemed stronger 
than ever. The expedition to the northeast was more suc- 
cessful, — eventually effecting an expulsion of the French 
population from the plundered Acadia. That against 
Crown Point was also successful, and the French were 
roundly beaten on the shores of Lake George. The move- 
ment against Niagara, however, duplicated that against 
Duquesne in that the army did not even reach its destina- 
tion. All in all, the balance of victory lay decidedly 
with the French during the first two years of the war. 
Under the superior leadership of the Marquis de Mont- 
calm it seemed that the English were being pretty effect- 
ually repelled, and might in the end find themselves 
rigidly confined to the populated belt of land along the 
Atlantic coast. 

That it did not work out so was due more largely to 

1 On Braddock's expedition and defeat, see Parkman, Montcalm and 
Wolfe, I. Ch. VII. ; Wintlirop Sargent, "Braddock's Expedition," in the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs, No. V. ; a large collection of 
letters and other documents in the Pennsylvania Archives (compiled by 
Samuel Hazard), Vol. II. ; a body of more formal materials in the 3Iin- 
utes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI. ; T. G. Chap- 
man, "Braddock's Defeat," in the May azine of American History, XVI. 
446-452 ; and a collection of letters and reports on the Braddock expedi- 
tion in the Virginia Historical Register, V. 120-141. 

T 



274 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the great English statesman, William Pitt, than to any 
one else. Popular indignation in England at the in- 
efficiency of the Newcastle administration became so strong 
in 1757 that the cabinet resigned, and by reason of sheer 
popularity Pitt was elevated to the new ministry as its 
first secretary of state and actual premier. Pitt was a 
man of ordinary birth, without fortune, arrogant, and im- 
practical, but he was also enthusiastic, incorruptible, and 
absolutely the only man of first-rate importance in public 
life in whom the people had confidence. Most of all, he 
appreciated as none of his colleagues did, the enormous 
importance of the wars in progress in India and in Amer- 
ica. He perceived the value of a colonial empire, and saw 
clearly how and when to strike the most effective blows for 
its preservation. His promotion to the actual direction 
of England's foreign affairs produced almost immediate 
results. A new treaty was negotiated with Frederick of 
Prussia, by which a subsidy of £670,000 was to be paid 
to Prussia annually to induce her to keep up the war in 
Europe. Pitt was devoted to this project because, as 
he declared, he believed England could win America in 
Germany by helping the Prussians humble the French. 
The year 1758 marked a complete reversal of the fortunes 
of war in America. Three powerful expeditions were 
fitted out, somewhat on the plan of the four which had ter- 
minated so indifferently during the past three years. Of 
tliese, one was to be led by Amherst against Louisburg; 
another, under Forbes, was to take Fort Duquesne ; and 
a third, led by Wolfe, was to advance to the capture of 
Quebec. All these commanders were efiicient men, and 
directly or indirectly all achieved complete success. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 2To 

Louisbiirg was captured, July 2G, 1758, and possession of 
the island of Cape Breton assured. Fort Duquesne fell at 
last into English hands, December 25 of the same year.^ 
And after pushing westward from Louisburg and scaling 
the Heights of Abraham, General Wolfe achieved the 
greatest success of the war in compelling the unconditional 
surrender of Quebec, September 18, 1759.2 

The capture of Montreal, September 8, 1760, — almost 
precisely a year after the fall of Quebec, — marked the vir- 
tual close of the war. On that date the French governor, 
Pierre Frangois, Marquis de Vaudreuil, who had suc- 
ceeded Duquesne in 1755, sig^ied capitulations by which 
not only Montreal, but also all Canada and its depend- 
encies, were given over to the English. ^ Sixty-five thou- 
sand people were affected by the change of sovereignty. 
The privileges of the Catholic religion were guaranteed, 
but English law was to displace the French code, and 
all troops were to be transported as prisoners of war 
to France. The extent of territory transferred was a 
matter of doubt. Neither Vaudreuil nor the English 
commander, Amherst, seems to have tried to be explicit 
upon this point. Doubtless each hoped for a future 
advantage to his country from such indefiniteness. For 
more than two years the matter was a prominent one in 

1 T. J. Chapman, "The Fall of Fort Duquesne," in the Magazine of 
American History, XVII. 330-336 ; C. W. Butterfield, " History of Ohio ; 
the English gain the Ohio Country," in the Magazine of Western His- 
tory, VII. 3-lG. 

■■' The battle on the Plains was fought September 13, five days before 
the formal surrender. On the fall of Quebec, see especially Parkman, 
Montcalm and Wolfe, II. Chs. XXV.-XXVIII. 

2 The "Articles of Capitulation for the Surrender of Canada" are 
printed in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, X. 1107-1120. 



270 TUK OrKISlNG OF THE MlSSlbSiri'I mw. 

the diplomatic nogotiations botwoon tho two pi)\vers, and 
wiiat sollloiiUMit would JKivo hoiMi arrivoil al had not 
other laelors been brought into [\\c problem to inlluen('i^ 
the result cannot even be surmised. 

From the moment the eai)itulations were sig'ned, Andierst 
be^'an to take steps to make them apply to as much 
territory as possible. A seont by tiie name of Robert 
Rogers Mas despatched with a ])arly of two hundri'd 
men in \vhaleboats to cruise through the Lakes and re- 
ceive the surrender of all French posts in the region. 
(Orders were issued Un' g-arrisons to proceed to these 
posts, and the most impoi'tant of them — Dt'lroit — 
changed masters, November '21>, ITtlO.' During tlie ne\t 
year Mackinaw, (ireen Bay, St. Joseph. Sault Ste. Marie, 
and in fai't every French stronghold in the valley of the 
St. Lawreiu'c and the (u'cat Lakes, had !il<i'wist* been 
surmounted with the banner of St. (icorge. With the 
pros[>eet t)f peace and undisputed ])osscssion, tlu> Ohio 
(\)mpany prepared to enlarge its operations, and indi- 
vidual explorers and land-hunters began io make their 
way through the wilderness and carry back to tiie i^ast 
marvellous reports of the fertility and productiveness 
of the Middle West. The most illustrious of tliese 
adventurers was Daniel Boone, who made his tirst a})- 
pearance beyond the AUeghanies in 17G0, and (aeconling 
to the alleged beech-tree inscription) "cilled" his lirst 
"bar'' in the wilds oi the Boone's ("reek Civil District, 



1 Oh tlie operations of l\Oiior.s ami the sunviutor of Detroit, soo Cooloy, 
Micliitjan (.American Coinnionwealth Series), Ch. II. ; Silas Fanner, 
The History of Detroit and Miehinan, 234 ; and Parknian, Tlii' Conspiracy 
of roiUiac, Ch. VI. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 277 

Tennessee, in that year. The time for the permanent 
settlement of this region had not yet quite arrived, but the 
wide publication of its resources, together with the restor- 
ing of order in the West, was rapidly preparing the way. 

While the English in America, daunted only by the 
sullen discontent of the natives which broke forth ulti- 
mately in the Pontiac War, were taking every advantage 
of the defeat of the F'rench to enlarge their territorial 
possessions, the diplomats of Europe were determining 
the conditions on which Erench power was to be with- 
drawn entirely from the western continent. The starting- 
point of the negotiation was, the surrender of Vaudreuil 
to Amherst. When Erance found herself utterly unable 
to prolong the war, and therefore without hope of re- 
gaining Canada, she fell back upon the looseness of 
Vaudreuil's definition of the surrender, and sought to 
maintain that, as Vaudreuil himself said subsequently, 
the capitulation included no territory south of the height 
of land at the head of the streams flowing into the basin 
of the Great Lakes. The English at least professed to 
understand, however, that the Canada yielded to them 
included not only the basin of the Lakes, but also that of 
the Wabash to the Ohio, and all west to the Mississippi. 
This interpretation seems to have been quite groundless, 
for, though at one time the Illinois country had been 
added to Canada, the arrangement was only a tem[)orary 
one for administrative purposes, and had been wholly 
superseded long before 1760. 

Nevertheless, when, on July 15, 1761, Erance offered to 
cede Canada "as Vaudreuil had surrendered it," she was 
given to understand that the English must reserve the 



278 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPIT chap. 

right of interpreting the terras of Vaudreuil's capitula- 
tion. King George's ministers woukl not admit that any 
part of the Ohio country was included in Louisiana, or, 
indeed, that Louisiana and Virginia were anywhere con- 
tiguous. Three weeks later the French offered to cede 
Canada " in the most extensive manner " on condition 
that a strip of territory running from north to south, just 
west of the Alleghanies, be declared neutral. ^ This idea 
of a buffer of neutral lands was similar to the proposal of 
the French government in 1782 that the region between 
the Alleghanies and the Mississippi be formed into a pro- 
tectorate of the United States and Spain. On this earlier 
occasion, as on the later one, the suggestion met with no 
favor from the nation most immediately concerned. Eng- 
land maintained that the lands in question were hers in 
full right. They had been included in the earliest of her 
chartered colonies, and besides, a long series of treaties 
with the Iroquois and Southern Indians had given her a 
well-recognized protectorate over them. There was noth- 
ing for France to do but yield, which she did, not very 
gracefully, September 13, 1761. 

While the negotiations were pending, it developed that 
there was much difference of opinion in English official 
circles as to the best territorial basis for a treaty. It hap- 
pened that another of the English conquests during the war 
was the island of Guadeloupe in the West Indies, of enor- 
mous importance in the sugar trade and commercial opera- 
tions generally. A considerable number of people, mainly 

1 See Jefferys's map of the proposed neutral territory, in Winsor, The 
3Iississippi Basin, 416. The map appeared originally in Jefferys, General 
Topography of North America and the West Indies [Loudon, 1768]. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 279 

of the merchant chiss, advocated the view that Canada 
would be of small value to England compared with Guade- 
loupe, and that the possession of the latter should be ren- 
dered doubly secure by returning the former country to 
its original owner. Numerous pamphlets appeared in 
support of this contention, among the authors of which 
were the distinguished brothers, William and Edmund 
Burke. 1 When the possibility of such a consummation 
became known in the colonies, a deep spirit of resentment 
at even the consideration of the plan by the ministry was 
aroused. In earlier wars with the French colonies the 
English settlers had been repeatedly disappointed by the 
return of their hard-won conquests in exchange for 
English advantages in other parts of the world, and 
naturally they did not now enjoy the prospect of losing 
the fruits of all their recent efforts. Happily they had 
a most able spokesman in Franklin. He, too, turned 
pamphleteer and with noteworthy effectiveness. ^ The 
ardor and skill of his arguments for the retention of 
Canada, and as much other American territory as Eng- 

1 The Burke pamphlet appeared in the nature of controversial "Re- 
marks" on the Earl of Bath's Letter to Two Great Men [Pitt and New- 
castle], in which it was argued that Canada would be more valuable to 
England than Guadeloupe or any other West India possession. 

- Franklin's most important pamphlet was entitled, "The Interest of 
Great Britain Considered with Regard to her Colonies and the Acquisi- 
tions of Canada and Guadeloupe." It first appeared anonymously in 
London in 1760, being prompted primarily by the brochures of the Earl 
of Bath and his anonymous opponents. The text of the paper appears in 
Sparks, Works of Benjamin Franklin, IV. 1-53. Franklin's representa- 
tions in the interest of retaining Canada were forcefully answered by the 
pamphlet, " An Examination of the Connnercial Principles of the Late 
Negotiation between Great Britain and France in 17G1," supposed like- 
wise to have been written by Edmund Burke. 



280 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

land could get, fairly entitle him to be called America's 
first great expansionist. England, he declared, was insig- 
nificant territorially, — "scarcely enough of it to keep 
one's shoes dry," — and she must compensate for her 
cramped quarters at home by never losing an opportunity 
legitimately to enlarge her claims and possessions beyond 
the seas. Even at the rate at which the population of the 
seaboard colonies had been increasing, it was not unrea- 
sonable to look forward to the time when a surplus popu- 
lation of millions would have to be provided for. The 
great area between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi 
could easily be made to support a hundred millions of 
such people, and England could make no greater mistake 
than to refuse to possess herself of this region when it was 
so easily possible for her to insure it for all time to come. 
" Canada in the hands of the French," declared Franklin, 
" has always stunted the growth of our colonies. To leave 
the French in the possession of Canada, when it is within 
our power to remove them, and to depend on our own 
strength and watchfulness to prevent the mischief that 
may attend it, is neither safe nor prudent." To the argu- 
ment of the partisans of Guadeloupe that the retention of 
Canada would foster a "numerous, hardy, and indepen- 
dent people, who would become useless and dangerous 
to Britain," Franklin replied that the exigencies of the 
recent war had certainly demonstrated the difficulty with 
which the colonists could be brought to act together, and 
that, except in event of "grievous tyranny and oppres- 
sion," England had nothing to fear from the growing 
numbers and strength of her American colonies. "Their 
jealousy of each other is so great," he declared, "that 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 281 

however necessary a union of the colonies has long been 
for their common defence and security against their 
enemies, and how sensible soever each colony has been of 
that necessity, yet they have never been able to effect such 
a union among themselves, nor even to agree in requesting 
the mother country to establish it for them. Nothing but 
the immediate command of the crown has been able to 
produce even the imperfect union, but lately seen there, 
of the forces of some colonies. If they could not agree to 
unite for their defence against the French and Indians, 
who were perpetually harassing their settlements, burning 
their villages, and murdering their people, can it reasonably 
be supposed there is any danger of their uniting against 
their own nation, which protects and encourages them, 
with which they have so many connections and ties of 
blood, interest, and affection, and which, it is well known, 
they all love much more than they love one another? In 
short, there are so many causes that must operate to pre- 
vent it that I will venture to say a union amongst them 
for such a purpose is not merely improbable, it is impos- 
sible. . . . When I say such a union is impossible, I 
mean, without the most grievous tyranny and oppression. 
People who have property in a country which they may 
lose, and privileges which they may endanger, are generally 
disposed to be quiet, and even to bear much, rather than 
hazard all. While the government is mild and just, while 
important civil and religious rights are secure, such sub- 
jects will be dutiful and obedient. The waves do not rise 
but when the zvind blows.'' ^ 

1 "The Interest of Great Britain Considered," Sparks, Fmnklin^s 
Works, IV. 42. See an extract from the Universal Magazine, London, 



282 THE OPENING OV THE MISSISSIPPI cn.u-. 

Doubtless these and other expressions from Franklin had 
their influence upon the ministry and Parliament ; but it 
is probable that, wholly regardless of opinion in America, 
the decision of the government would finally have been, 
as it was, to return Guadeloupe to the French and keep 
a firm grip upon Canada and its alleged dependencies in 
the Central West. 

The course of the negotiations was interrupted by the 
retirement of Pitt from the ministry, October 5, 1761. 
Lord Bute, who succeeded to Pitt's office and eventually 
became nominal as well as real premier, was willing to 
make peace Avith France upon much easier terms than 
Pitt had contended for, but the outbreak of war be- 
tween England and Spain, three weeks after Pitt's fall, 
rendered the early conclusion of a treaty out of the 
question. It was only after the brilliant succession of 
English victories in the summer of 1762, including the 
capture of Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 
Havana, and the Philippines, that Spain was brought, 
along with her ally, to the point of humble submission. 
The English were as tired of the war as were their enemies, 
and King George and his prime minister were so eager for 
the restoration of peace that they consented to sacrifice 
practically all that the last year's triumphs had given 
them. The preliminaries between England and France 
were agreed to, November 3, at Fontainebleau, and, despite 
the fulminations of Pitt against the leniency of the min- 
istry, were approved by Parliament a few weeks later. 

1761, urging the government to conquer Louisiana and hold it in prefer- 
ence to Guadeloupe and all other islands, in the Magazine of American 
History, XXVII. 311-312. 



VII THE STRUGGLE EOll POSSESSION 283 

February 10, 1763, the terms of the treaty were made 
definitive at Paris. ^ Enghmd's agent in the negotiation 
was the Duke of Bedford, while France was represented 
by Choiseul, Spain by Grimaldi, and Portugal by Mello. 
The ratifications were exchanged among the contracting 
powers in jNIarch, and the treaty was formally promul- 
gated May 4. 

Under the treaty of Paris the question as to the extent 
of Canada dropped out of consideration, for France agreed 
to yield to the English practically all her lands east of the 
Mississippi. The seventh article of the instrument pro- 
vided that, in order to remove forever "all subjects of 
dispute with regard to the limits of the British and 
French territories on the continent of America," the 
boundary between these territories should be "a line 
drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi from its 
source to the river Iberville, and from thence by a line 
drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes 
Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea." All French 
possessions east of the great river were to become English 
except the city of New Orleans and the island on which 
it stood. New Orleans, as the capital of the Louisiana 
territory and essential to its administration, was to remain 
to the French. Henceforth the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi was to be entirely free alike to the subjects of 

1 The text of the treaty is in Chalmers, Collection of Treaties, I. 467- 
483. The articles relating to America are printed in MacDonald, Select 
Charters, 201-266. On the treaty, see Lecky, Ilistunj of England in the 
Eighteenth Century, II. Ch. VIII., and III. Ch. X.; Tarkman, Montcalm 
and Wolfe, II. Ch. XXXI.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V. 
Ch. VIII. ; and Mahon, History of England from the Peace of Utrecht, 
II. Chs. XXXII.-XXXVIII, 



284 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Great Britain and France "in its whole breadth and 
length, from its source to the sea." Vessels belonging 
to the subjects of either nation were not to be stopped, 
visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatever. 
The inhabitants of the ceded territory were guaranteed 
the liberty of the Catholic religion " as far as the laws of 
Great Britain permit," and it was further provided that 
within the space of eighteen months from the ratification 
of the treaty they might sell their estates, provided it 
be to subjects of the English crown, and, carrying their 
personal effects with them, retire "with all safety and 
freedom " to lands which remained under the Bourbon 
banner. 

The acquisition by war of so vast and desirable a region 
as the eastern Mississippi Valley without the striking of 
a blow within its bounds is indeed a remarkable achieve- 
ment, yet this is precisely what the English had done. 
By striking straight at the strongholds of French suprem- 
acy in northern and eastern America, England rendered 
the less fortified Bourbon dominions in the interior no 
longer tenable. Although throughout the war the fate 
of Louisiana was hanging in the balance, the theatre of 
conflict was elsewhere, and the Louisianians could not 
even render any important aid to their fellow-countrymen 
fighting, in the end so unavailingly, in the north to save 
them from complete segregation. We hear of proposals 
at Mobile that Georgia and Carolina should be invaded 
by Choctaws under French leadership,^ but notliing of 

1 M. Bossu, Nouveaux voyages aux Indies occidentales [Paris, 1768]. 
Translated by J. R. Forster as Travels thronrjh that part of North 
America formerly called Louisiana [London, 1771]. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 285 

note seems to have resulted from such suggestions. Far 
removed though she was, Louisiana suffered no small in- 
convenience because of the war. Supply ships from 
France were continually being captured by English pri- 
vateers. Money could not be brought from Europe, and 
the governor was compelled to resort to the issue of a 
form of paper currency known as bons. Commerce was 
heavily burdened by the levies made upon the colony for 
the expenses of the war, and the practice of giving yearly 
presents to the Indian tribes had to be discontinued, — 
which consideration turned much of the profitable Indian 
trade into English channels. Moreover, there was always 
great uncertainty as to whether the Gulf coasts might 
not become a scene of war. News from the North trav- 
elled slowly, and the lower settlements were never very 
clearly informed regarding the actual state of affairs in 
Canada and the Ohio country. Fearing an English inva- 
sion, the people of New Orleans built a new wall entirely 
around their city, repaired the batteries at English Turn, 
and stationed a vessel at the mouth of the river to be 
sunk, if necessary, to prevent entrance by an English 
fleet. But though such preparations for defence were the 
part of wisdom, they proved unnecessary. The English 
had no purpose to attack the French in the Gulf. They 
were shrewd enough to see that when Louisburg, Quebec, 
Montreal, Niagara, Duquesne, and the other northern cen- 
tres of French power were once wrested from tlieir found- 
ers, the power of the French in America would be a thing 
of the past. There was no need of resorting to such 
costly expedients as the invasion of the French domain 
in the West and South, since its fortune must rise and 



286 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

fall precisely with that of Canada and the lower Lake 
dominion. 

When the English authorities agreed to the terras of 
the treaty of Paris, they were wholly unaware of another 
and almost equally important move which the French were 
making. That Spain had become involved in the later 
stages of the war was due mainly to the efforts of Louis 
XV. 's minister of foreign affairs, the Due de Choiseul. 
During the year 1761, when Pitt, acting on his avowed 
policy of compassing the annihilation of French naval 
and colonial power, was making exorbitant demands in 
the negotiations at Paris, Choiseul had taken advantage 
of the Spanish king's hostility toward England to demand 
on behalf of Spain the restoration of some prizes taken 
by the English, the acknowledgment of Spanish rights 
to the use of the Newfoundland fisheries, the surrender 
of Gibraltar, and the withdrawal of English settlements 
from Honduras. 1 The result of Pitt's prompt rejection 
of these demands was the formation of a new Family 
Compact between the two Bourbon powers (August, 
1761), by which each guaranteed to the other the ter- 
ritories belonging to it, and Spain agreed to declare 
war against England if peace was not concluded by May 
of the following year. When the existence of this 
arrangement was suspected in England, Pitt at once 
declared for war with Spain, and though the enemies of 
his administration took advantage of the issue to secure 

1 By the treaty of Paris the Spanish claim to a share in the fisheries 
was withdrawn, and the British fortifications in the Bay of Honduras 
were engaged to be destroyed. The possession of Gibraltar was not 
affected. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 287 

his downfall, the succeeding ministry was forced by cir- 
cumstances to precipitate the conflict in January, 1762. 
The adherence of the Spanish to the French cause merely 
delayed for some months the conclusion of the war. It 
in no wise diminished the superiority of the English, or 
lessened the losses of France in the final reckoning. In 
fact, it greatly increased those losses. 

By agreement between England and Spain the former, 
at the close of the war, gave back to the latter all her 
conquests in Cuba, including Havana, in return for 
which Spain ceded to England " Florida, with Fort St. 
Augustin, and the Bay of Pensacola, as well as all that 
Spain possesses on the continent of North America, to the 
east, or to the southeast, of the river Mississippi." i By 
this acquisition the sovereignty of the English was estab- 
lished over all the remaining territory (except the island 
of New Orleans) east of the Mississippi, which had not 
been acquired from France. But inasmuch as France 
was responsible for Spain's participation in the war, and 
consequently for her losses at its close, Grimaldi, the 
Spanish ambassador at the court of Versailles and 
Spain's representative in the negotiation, suggested that 
compensation be made by the ceding of the western por- 
tion of the Mississippi Valley to his master. King Charles 
III. Having lost everything in the New World but this, 
the French considered it scarcely worth while to risk the 
forfeiture of Spanish friendship for the sake of retaining 
Louisiana. The province had long been a financial bur- 
den upon the crown, and aside from the humiliation 
involved in the complete retirement from the American 
1 Treaty of Paris, Article XX. 



288 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

continent, there was probably not much reluctance in 
official circles in parting with it. Accordingly, on the 
same day that the treaty of Paris was signed, Choiseul 
and Grimaldi agreed to a secret understanding by which 
the French king "ceded to his cousin of Spain, and to 
his successors, forever, in full ownership and without any 
exception or reservation whatever, from the pure impulse 
of his generous heart, and from the sense of the friendship 
and affection existing between these two royal persons, 
all the country known under the name of Louisiana." ^ 
The territory transferred included New Orleans and all 
the French claims west of the Mississippi. Ten days later 
the cession was approved at the Escurial, and ten days 
later still it was ratified by King Louis. The transaction 
was not known to the world for fifteen months, and 
in the meantime the French king continued to exercise 
the sovereignty of the province. 

Thus the close of the Seven Years' War brought the 
complete subversion of the French colonial empire in 
America. Though the great Pitt had not been able to 
maintain himself at the British helm all through the con- 
test, the outcome in America was substantially what he 
had planned and hoped for — except that he might have 
contrived to secure all the Mississippi Valley at once for 
people of English speech and blood instead of allowing 
the western half of it to fall for a time to the Spaniards. 
By the treaties of 1763 the plans and achievements of 

1 " Preliminary Convention between the Kings of France and Spain for 
the Cession of Louisiana to the Latter" and tlie " Definite Act of Cession 
of Louisiana by tlie King of France to tlie King of Spain," in French, 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 234-239, 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 289 

scores of patriotic and ambitious Frenchmen — La Salle, 
Iberville, Bienville, Cadillac, Crozat, Galissonniere, Cele- 
ron, and many of lesser fame — were brouglit to naught. 
Missionaries, coureurs-de-bois, fur traders, explorers, and 
colonists had labored, in all more than a hundred years, 
with greater or lesser skill and ardor, to build a great 
French dependency in the heart of the continent. They 
had been the pathfinders of the Mississippi Valley ; they 
had borne the brunt of the conflict with hostile natives 
and primeval nature ; they had revealed to the world the 
resources and prospective value of the great region ; but 
in the laying of foundations for an abiding political power 
they failed. Their numbers had always been too scant, 
and support from the home government too " penny wise 
and pound foolish." They could have maintained them- 
selves quite well as against the Spaniard or any other pos- 
sible European competitor except the very one with whom 
they had to contend. But the Englishman was too hun- 
gry for land, and too shrewd in his methods of obtain- 
ing it, as well as too strong numerically and financially, 
to be long resisted with such force as the French could 
command in America. At the best it was but a question 
of time until the scattered Gallic settlements between 
Montreal and the Gulf should be submerged by the Anglo- 
Saxon advance beyond the Alleghanies in the latter part 
of the eighteenth century and after. 

The war was essentially a conflict of civilizations, and, 
viewed in this aspect, its result appears no less inevitable 
than necessary to the future of the country. The late 
Professor Hinsdale, one of the first and also one of the 
most suggestive writers on our western history, states the 



290 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

significance of the issue between the English and French 
in tiie following striking manner : " The history of French 
America is far more picturesque and brilliant than the 
history of British America in the period of 1608-1754. 
But the English were doing work far more solid, valu- 
able, and permanent than their northern neighbors. The 
French took to the lakes, rivers, and forests ; they culti- 
vated the Indians; their explorers were intent on dis- 
covery, their traders on furs, their missionaries on souls. 
The English did not either take to the woods or cultivate 
the Indians ; they loved agriculture and trade, state and 
church, and so clung to their fields, shops, politics, and 
churches. As a result, while Canada languished, thirteen 
English states grew up on the Atlantic Plain modelled on 
the Saxon pattern, and became populous, rich, and strong. 
At the beginning of the war there were 80,000 white 
inhabitants in New France, 1,160,000 in the British 
colonies. The disparity of wealth was equally striking. 
In 1754 there was more real civilization — more seeds of 
things — in the town of Boston than in all New France. 
In time these compact and vigorous British colonies 
offered effective resistance to Great Britain. It is plain 
that, had they spread themselves out over half a con- 
tinent, hunted beaver, and trafficked with the Indians, 
after the manner of the French, independence would have 
been postponed many years, and possibly forever. We 
owe a vast debt to the inherited character of those Eng- 
lishmen who came to America in the first half of the 
seventeenth century, and no small debt to the Appala- 
chian mountain wall that confined them to the narrow 
Atlantic slope until, by reason of compression and growth. 



VII THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 291 

they were gotten ready, first to enter the West in force, 
and then to extort their independence from Enghmd." ^ 

The overthrow of the Frencli power in Canada and the 
Mississippi Valley is certainly to be regarded as the pro- 
logue to the American Revolution. Choiseul perceived 
the tendency of the English to overleap themselves in the 
hour of their success, and declared, after signing the treaty 
in 1763, " I ceded it [the eastern Mississippi Valley] on 
purpose to destroy the English. They were fond of 
American dominion, and I resolved they should have 
enough of it." On the relation between the French losses 
in 1763 and the fortunes of the English colonies in their 
later struggle for independence a careful American writer 
has the following to say : " Humiliating as the loss of the 
North American territories was to France, it was produc- 
tive of much advantage to the United States in their sub- 
sequent struggle with the mother country. Had France 
in 1776 been in possession, not only of Canada, but of the 
valley of the Mississippi, it is not likely that she would 
have accepted the policy of freeing the United States from 
British dominion ; nor had she retained Canada and the 
Mississippi Valley would she have nourished that bitter 
resentment to Britain which swayed her after the peace 
of 1763. Burke insisted that the conquest of Canada was 
of doubtful value to Britain, as by removing France from 
North America, it would weaken the community of dan- 
ger which bound Britain to her American colonies and 
would precipitate the division of the British Empire. 
Not only was this the case, but had France held in 1782 
the valley of the Mississippi, that great country would 
1 B. A. Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 68. 



292 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

not have either been claimed by the United States or 
surrendered by France." ^ Still one other noteworthy 
passage on the historical significance of the expulsion of 
the French from North America must be quoted. The 
English historian John Richard Green strikes straight at 
the truth when he writes : " With the triumph of Wolfe 
on the Heights of Abraham began the history of the 
United States. By removing an enemy whose dread had 
knit the colonists to the mother country, and by breaking 
through the line with which France had barred them from 
the basin of the Mississippi, Pitt laid the foundation of 
the great republic of the west. . . . The presence of the 
French in Canada, their designs in the west, had thrown 
America for protection on the mother country. But with 
the conquest of Canada all need of protection was re- 
moved. The attitude of England toward its distant 
dependency became one of simple possession ; and the 
differences of temper, the commercial and administrative 
disputes, which had long existed as elements of sever- 
ance, but had been thrown into the background till now 
by the higher need for union, started into new prominence. 
Day by day the American colonists found it liarder to 
submit to the meddling of the mother country with their 
self-government and their trade. A consciousness of 
their destinies was stealing in upon thoughtful men, and 
spread from them to the masses round them."^ The ties 
which bound America to England were yet very strong. 
The colonists fairly scorned the thought of separation, and 

1 Francis Wharton, The Bevolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of 
the United States, I. 330. 

2 Green, History of the English People, IV. 197, 202, 



vii THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 293 

prided themselves on their loyalty, and the English re- 
garded the American colonies as their choicest possession. 
Nevertheless, all far-seeing students of political science 
agreed that there were elements of danger in the situa- 
tion, and already the young John Adams had prophesied 
that the only way by which England would be able to 
prevent the colonies from setting up for themselves was 
to keep them all the time disunited. The conflict with 
the French had determined the ultimate supremacy of 
English-speaking people in North America, but this did 
not necessarily mean the permanent aggrandizement of 
the British nation there. The Seven Years' War had 
been a turning point in English history, when the chief 
interests of the English people were shifted from the 
quarrels and rivalries of the continent to questions of 
empire beyond the seas. " Mistress of North America, 
the future mistress of India, claiming as her own the em- 
pire of the seas, Britain suddenly towered high above 
nations whose position in a single continent doomed them 
to comparative insignificance in the after history of the 
world." ^ But it remained to be seen whether the island 
kingdom could govern her distant dependents so adroitly 
as to neutralize the disintegrating power of three thousand 
miles of salt water. 

1 Green, History of the English People, IV. 198, 



CHAPTER VIII 

ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 

THE settlement at the close of the Seven Years' War 
left practically the entire western hemisphere in the 
possession of the English and the Spanish. By one stroke 
the empire of France in America had been reduced from 
all Canada and the Mississippi Valley to two insignificant 
islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and a few posts in the 
West Indies. The claim of Spain extended all the way 
from Cape Horn to an indefinite boundary north of the 
Columbia River, though only a comparatively small 
portion of this vast territory had even been explored. 
The possessions of the English included all the lands east 
of the Mississippi and indefinitely westward from the 
settlements in Canada. The great line of division was 
the Mississippi itself ; but on account of a total lack of 
information regarding the uppermost waters of that stream 
it was quite impossible to prescribe definite limits for the 
claims of the two powers in the Northwest. 

On the 7th of October, 1763, King George, with the 
concurrence of the Privy Council, began the work of 
organizing the recent English acquisitions in America by 
issuing a proclamation providing for the government of 
the territories in question, defining certain interior boun- 

294 



CHAF. viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 295 

claries, and regulating trade and intercourse with the 
Indians.^ By this instrument four distinct governmental 
provinces were constituted from the ceded lands — Quebec, 
East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. Quebec, as now 
defined, was considerably less extensive than the country 
which Vaudreuil had governed. Its southern boundary 
was described as a line due east from Lake Nipissing 
which, " crossing the river St. Lawrence and the lake 
Champlain in 45 degrees of North latitude, passes along 
the High Lands, which divide the rivers which empty 
themselves into the said river St. Lawrence, from those 
which fall into the sea." The forty-fifth parallel is the 
present northern boundary of New York and Vermont; but 
the incongruity of this and other descriptions of the line 
occasioned frequent diplomatic negotiations in later times 
between England and the United States, until the final 
settlement of the issue by the Webster- Ashburton treaty 
in 1842. The provinces of East and West Florida were 
bounded on the north by the thirty-first parallel and from 
each other by the Appalachicola River, being simply the ter- 
ritory which had been received from Spain and France, ex- 
cept that by the deflection of the boundary line southward 
along the course of the St. Mary's River, Georgia received 
a small strip of land whose possession she had long been 

1 The text of the proclamation of 1763 is in the Annual Register (1763), 
208-213, and Sparks, Works of Franklin, IV. 374-379. It is reprinted in 
MacDonald, Select Documents, 267-272, and in Hart and Channing, 
American History Leaflets, No. 5. For discussions of the proclamation, 
see B. A. Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, Ch. VIII., and "The AVestern 
Land Policy of the British Government from 1763 to 1775," in the Ohio 
Archceoloyical and Historical Quarterly, I. 207-229 ; Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, VI. Ch. IX. ; and Roosevelt, The Winning of the 
West, I. Chs. I. and 11. 



296 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

disputing with the Spanish. ^ Grenada was to be made 
up of tlie island of that name, together with the Grena- 
dines, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago. Authority 
was issued to the governors of the new provinces to call 
general assemblies as soon as circumstances would permit, 
which were to have full power to make laws agreeable to 
the statutes of England for the government of the in- 
habitants of the respective colonies. The governors were 
likewise authorized to reward veterans of the French and 
Indian War by grants of land ranging from fifty acres for 
privates to five thousand acres for field officers ; but it 
was strictly enjoined that no governor should grant any 
patent for lands beyond his province, and that no official 
of an Atlantic colony should allot lands farther west than 
the sources of the rivers flowing to the eastern seaboard. 
The great area between the Alleghanies and the Missis- 
sippi was to be held in reserve for the use of the Indians. 
" We do hereby strictly forbid," ran the proclamation, " on 
pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from mak- 
ing any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking 
possession of any of the lands above reserved, without our 
special leave and licence for that purpose first obtained." 

1 The following year the northern boundary of West Florida was 
moved to the parallel of the mouth of the Yazoo (32° 30'), which modi- 
fication was subsequently the source of no little trouble to both England 
and the United States. This first West Florida — the British province — is 
to be distinguished from the later Spanish West Florida and the indepen- 
dent state of West Florida. Henry E. Chambers, " West Florida and its 
Relation to the Historical Cartography of the United States," in the Johns 
Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, XVI. 
No. 5; and B. A. Hinsdale, "The Establishment of the First Southern 
Boundary of the United States," in the Report of the American Historical 
Association for 1893, 331-334. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 297 

If an}^ had already trangressed in this direction they were 
ordered "forthwith to remove themselves." Officers 
were to be stationed throughout the reserved territories to 
preserve friendly relations with the Indians and see that 
fugitives from justice in any of the colonies were properly 
apprehended and returned. The natives were to be pro- 
tected to the utmost in their primeval rights, and the 
possession of the country by the English was intended to 
retard rather than facilitate settlement by Europeans. 

It appears that several motives controlled in the shap- 
ing of this remarkable proclamation. That it was designed 
primarily, as Franklin considered it, to conciliate the Ind- 
ians admits of little doubt. Even before the war closed 
evidences were fast accumulating that the redskins of the 
West were unusually restless and threatening, and that, 
in fact, a great insurrection was imminent. By turning 
the eastern Mississippi Valley into crown lands in which 
the dispossession of the natives was strictly forbidden, the 
king and council vainly hoped to forestall any hostile 
movement which was being projected and to assure a 
perpetual peace. The proclamation was designed also to 
limit the old colonies by the mountains and invalidate the 
sea-to-sea charters, establish more firmly the control of the 
royal agents over the movements of the colonists, keep 
the English population in America from diffusing itself, 
as the French had done, through the vast interior wilder- 
ness, and promote British commercial interests by concen- 
trating wealth on the Atlantic seaboard.^ These latter 

1 William F. Poole, in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI. 687, 
regards the limitation of the seaboard colonies as the main purpose of 
the proclamation. See the Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade 



298 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

objects were so commonly understood in the colonies, even 
when the proclamation was issued, that there was an al- 
most universal expression of dissatisfaction with it. Men 
charged that the English government was conspiring to 
rob the colonies of the fruits of the late war and put a 
check upon the inalienable right of pioneers in a new 
world to seek out for themselves such homes and posses- 
sions as they desire. The policy outlined in the procla- 
mation seemed to sound the death-knell of all colonial 
schemes, such as that of the Ohio Company, for expansion 
in the West. The tide which had begun to flow in recent 
years out of Virginia and Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, 
across the mountains into the valleys of the Ohio and 
Cumberland, was to be forcibly turned back by royal edict. 
Even the most ardent of the government's sujoporters in 
the colonies viewed with much regret the adoption by 
England of a policy of repressive paternalism such as 
the English settlers had long been accustomed to ridicule 
in the French imperial system. The measure, like all 
others encroaching upon colonial rights, was not without 
opponents at home, and Edmund Burke characterized 
it as " an attempt to keep as a lair of wild beasts that 
earth which God, by an express charter, has given to 
the children of men." As a means of conciliating the 
western Indians it failed absolutely ; and as a harbinger 
of England's selfisli policy in America, now that the 
question of defending the colonies was no longer a vital 

and Plantations, in 1772, on the petition of Thomas Walpole and others 
for a grant of land on the Ohio, printed in Sparks, Works of Franklin, 
IV. 303-323 ; also Franklin's elaborate answer to this report, ibid., 324- 
374. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 299 

one, its most obvious result was to widen the breach 
which was as yet only beginning to appear, but which 
was destined to grow into a yawning chasm in little more 
than a single decade. Theodore Roosevelt, in his Winning 
of the West^ very well states the issue created by Eng- 
land's opposition to the spread of her people in America 
as follows: "In the northwest she [England] succeeded 
to the French policy as well as the French position. She 
wished the land to remain a wilderness, the home of the 
trapper and the fur trader, of the Indian hunter and the 
French voyageur. She desired it to be kept as a barrier 
against the growth of the seaboard colonies towards the 
interior. She regarded the new lands across the Atlantic 
as being won and settled, not for the benefit of the men 
who won and settled them, but for the benefit of the mer- 
chants and traders who stayed at home. It was this that 
rendered the Revolution inevitable ; the struggle was a 
revolt against the whole mental attitude of Britain in 
regard to America, rather than against any one special act 
or set of acts. The sins and shortcomings of the colonists 
had been many, and it would be easy to make out a for- 
midable catalogue of grievances against them, on behalf 
of the mother country ; but on the great underlying ques- 
tion they were wholly in the right, and their success was 
of vital consequence to the well-being of the race on this 
continent," ^ 

It is quite impossible to ascertain tlie number of French 
people living east of the Mississippi at the time the coun- 
try was ceded to England. Estimates ranging as high as 
four or five thousand have been ventured by various writ- 
1 Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, I. 36. 



300 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ers, though one of the best informed, Justin Winsor, 
thought it probable that north of the Ohio there were 
only about 1200 adults and 800 children, together with 
perhaps 900 negro slaves.^ There were very few French- 
men south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. The 
majority of these settlers were traders more or less per- 
manently established, and it will be recalled that by the 
treaty of Paris they were guaranteed their rights to their 
homes and lands, with the privilege of selling their pos- 
sessions to the English and retiring from the country 
within eighteen months. A considerable number of the 
settlers north of the Ohio chose to follow the latter 
course, particularly as the cession of western Louisiana to 
Spain remained for some time unknown, and it was sup- 
posed by them that by merely crossing to the other side 
of the river they could continue to live under the banner 
of their native land. A general exodus occurred, and 
some of the most important posts in the Ohio and Illi- 
nois country were all but abandoned. It may be observed 
that this movement decided the location of the city of St. 
Louis ; for in 1764, when Pierre Laclede Liguest and a 
company of followers, representing a French fur com- 
pany, reached the vicinity of the Missouri's mouth with 
the intention of establishing a new trading-post, they 
heard of the recent cession and decided to build on the 
western rather than the eastern bank of the stream, so 
that, at all events, the sovereignty of Great Britain might 
be evaded. The site chosen was one which two French- 
men, Chouteau by name, had occupied the previous winter, 

1 Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 432. On the French population of 
the Ohio Valley, see Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, I. Ch. II. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 301 

and within a few months a third of the whites and more 
than half of the negroes who had lived east of the Mis- 
sissippi had gathered there and given the new town a very 
respectable population. ^ 

The migration of the French had no small weight in 
determining the Indians upon a general rising against 
the English. By the natives it was understood that the 
French were fleeing because they feared the constraints 
of English rule, and it was reasoned that if the French- 
men had ground for such alarm, the red men had even 
greater cause for apprehension. The French had long 
posed as the friends and protectors of all the tribes west 
of the Iroquois ; but now the helpless natives were to be 
left to the mercy of the land-grabbing Englishman, and 
they must either submit to the destruction of their hunt- 
ing grounds or unite in a desperate campaign of extermi- 
nation. As soon as the restlessness of the western Indians 
was brought to the attention of the British government, 
gifts to the value of four or five thousand pounds were 
sent to Charleston to be used in placating the tribes of 
the South. But no such policy was followed in the North, 
where the greatest danger lay, and it is doubtful anyway 
whether bribery could have availed more than to postpone 
for a time the trial at arms which the chieftains of the 
Northwest had firmly resolved upon. At the very moment 
when Amherst was declaring that it was of no consequence 

1 Elihu H. Shepard, The Early History of St. Louis and Misso\iri, 
Ch. I. ; Frederic L. Billon, Annals of St. Louis in its Early Bays under 
the French and Simni.'ih Dominations, Part I. ; Reynolds, The Pioneer His- 
tory of Illinois, 82 ; E. N. Lander, " Liguest, the Founder of St. Louis," 
in the Magazine of American History, V. 204-210; and Anon., "The 
Founding of St. Louis," in the Magazine of Western History, II. 302-321. 



302 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

what the Indians tliought of the displacement of French 
by English sovereignty in the West, Pontiac's runners 
were summoning warriors from all the nations of the Great 
Lake region to a council for the planning of the war. 

In May, 1763, the blow fell by a simultaneous attack 
upon all the forts from Pennsylvania to Lake Superior. ^ 
The struggle which ensued was the most terrible in the 
annals of Indian history. The redskins threw themselves 
into it with the spirit of desperation. In less than a 
month two thousand settlers were killed on the frontiers 
outside the armed posts. The inhabitants on the Ohio 
and its upper tributaries were all massacred or driven 
in flight toward the eastern colonies. Every post re- 
maining from the French War was destroyed, and Fort 
Pitt (old Fort Duquesne) was left awhile the sole senti- 
nel of English authority in the Ohio Valley. In the West 
everything was lost in the first year of the war except 
Detroit. But with the year 1764 the tide turned. The 

1 On the Pontiac War, see Bancroft, History of the United States (ed. 
1883), III. Ch. IV. ; Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac; Winsor, 
Narrative and Critical History, VI. Ch. IX. ; Dillon, History of Indiana, 
Ch. IX. ; Moses, Illinois, Historical and Statistical, I. Ch. VII. ; Cooley, 
Michigan, Ch. III. ; Silas Farmer, History of Detroit and Michigan, 
Ch. XXXVIII. ; Fernow, The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, Ch. IX. ; 
Reynolds, The Pioneer History of Illinois, Ch. IV. ; and Moore, Tlie 
Northwest tinder Three Flags, Ch. IV. The most important original 
authority is the so-called "Pontiac Manuscript," a journal written in 
French and probably by a French priest. It was discovered in the roof 
of a Canadian house which was being torn down, and presented to the 
Michigan Historical and Pioneer Society. Translations of it are in the 
Collections, VIII. 266-339, of this society, and in the Parkman Mss. in 
the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Other contemporary 
statements regarding the rebellion, especially the siege of Fort Detroit in 
1763, are in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections, 
VIII. 340-368. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 303 

English authorities, somewhat recovered from the shock, 
set about the organizing of carefully planned expeditions 
against the Senecas, Delawares, Ottawas, Ojibways, and 
other peoples who had been most aggressive in the war, 
and, largely through the efforts of Colonel Henry Bouquet, 
success crowned their undertakings. During the autumn 
of 1764, Bouquet advanced into the very heart of the 
hostile country, administering defeats and terrifying the 
savages into subjection. ^ Late in November peace was 
concluded, but not until after all the whites held in 
captivity had been surrendered. The Pontiac rebellion 
failed as much because of the jealousies of the partici- 
pants in it as because of the measures pursued by the 
English to suppress it. Although the proclamation of 
1763 had come too late to avert the war, the consequent 
adoption of French methods by the British agents and 
the published intention of the king and council to hold 
the western country in reserve for the Indians were 
not without influence in inducing a lasting conciliation. 
As time went on Pontiac and his followers came to under- 
stand that it was not so much the British government 



1 William Smith, "An Historical Account of the Expedition against 
the Ohio Indians, in the year 1764, under the command of Henry Bou- 
quet," in the Ohio Valley Historical Series [Cincinnati, 1868]. The 
papers and despatches of Colonel Bouquet are reprinted in the Collections 
of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, XIX. 27-296. See 
Parkman, The Conspiracy, of Pontiac, Chs. XX.-XXVII., especially a 
report of General Gage to Lord Halifax on the success of Bouquet's expe- 
dition, December 13, 1764, Appendix F; C. W. Butterfield, "History of 
Ohio ; Bouquet's Expedition," in the Magazine of Western History, VII. 
560-.'i75 ; Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags, Ch. V. ; and J. T. 
Headley, "Colonel Bouquet," in Harper^ s Magazine, XXIII. 577 (Octo- 
ber, 1861). 



304 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

that was their foe as the English colonies on the seaboard. 
The former promised protection and non-interference ; 
the latter were undeniably greedy for conquest and west- 
ern settlement — in other words, the extermination of the 
native population ; for that was invariably the sequel of 
English colonization. During the interval between Pon- 
tiac's war and the outbreak of the Revolution this feature 
of the situation came to be so clearly appreciated by the 
ten thousand or more native warriors of the West that it 
is not difficult to explain their almost uniform adherence 
in that later struggle to the cause of King George. 

One very important result of the Pontiac War deserves 
special mention. To all appearances the effort of the 
English government to conciliate the discontented Indians 
by guaranteeing the immunity of their lands had failed 
to produce its intended effect. The bringing of the 
natives to a full appreciation of England's motives was 
a matter of years, and in the meantime sentiment in the 
colonies adverse to the mother country's western policy 
had grown materially stronger. The reluctance with 
which the Indians brought the war to a close was urged 
by the colonial authorities as ground sufficient to war- 
rant the removal of every governmental restriction upon 
westward migration. Therefore the preliminary treaty 
which Bouquet negotiated with the representatives of 
Pontiac at Fort Stanwix, on the site of Rome, New 
York, practically abrogated that portion of the proclama- 
tion of 1763 which reserved the western lands from 
settlement by the whites.^ The Indians were encouraged 
under this compact to withdraw from the country south 
J Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, Ch. XXVI. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBOKS AFTER 17(33 305 

of the Ohio, and the way was thus prepared in part for the 
settling a few years later of what are now the states of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. Sir William Johnson of New York ^ 
sent George Croghan to England to recommend to the king 
and council that a line be drawn from the head of the Dela- 
ware to the mouth of the Ohio, and that the lands north 
of this line be reserved for an Indian hunting ground. 
After considerable delay the necessary authorization for 
the conclusion of a treaty to this effect was received, and in 
the autumn of 1768 more than three thousand Indian 
deputies from the Iroquois and their dependents were 
assembled at Fort Stanwix for the establishing of definite 
boundaries for the red man's and the white man's posses- 
sions. The Indians were hospitably entertained by Sir 
William Johnson, and the feasting and speech-making 
lasted more than seven weeks. " I was much concerned," 
Sir William subsequently wrote, " by reason of the great 
consumption of provisions and the heavy expenses attend- 
ing the maintenance of these Indians, each of whom con- 
sumes daily more than two ordinary jnen amongst us, and 
would be extremely dissatisfied if stinted when convened 
for business." 2 The treaty which was finally effected — 
one of the most notable of its kind in American history — for 
a consideration of six thousand dollars in money and goods, 
transferred to the British crown the Indian title to what 
is now the state of Kentucky, east of the Tennessee River 

^ Because of his gi-eat influence with the Iroquois, Johnson had been 
an important figure in tlie late war. See William E. Griffis, Sir William 
Johnson and the Six Nations, and W. L. Stone, Life and Times of Sir 
William Johnson. 

2 Sir William Johnson to the Earl of Hillsborough, October 23, 1768. 
O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, VIII. 105. 

X 



306 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

(tlien known as the Cherokee), and a large part of west- 
ern Virginia. It also added a large tract of Indian land 
to western Pennsylvania. In general the line of demar- 
cation between the territory for English use and that 
reserved for the natives was quite distinctly drawn. ^ 
Nevertheless, the conviction was strong among the English 
on both sides of the sea that the Indians by their rebellion 
had forfeited whatever claim they may have had to the 
trans-Alleghany country, and that their rights should 
hereafter be a negligible quantity in the problems of west- 
ward expansion. The English government continued to 
treat the Indians most liberally, but it ceased to pretend 
that its conduct was guided by motives other than those 
of good policy. 

The Pontiac War represented the last concerted attempt 
of the red men during the century to save their country 
from the intrusion of the whites, and the last such upris- 
ing of any importance at any time except that led by 
Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, in 1811. Upon 
this effort they had staked their all. One may sym- 
pathize, in a way, with their motives ; but all history 
teaches that the outcome was inevitable, and there are 
not wanting many and good arguments why it should 
have been so.^ Time and time asrain the settlers in the 



1 For Johnson's account of the meeting at Fort Stanwix, with the text 
of the treaty which was concluded, see O'Callaghan, New York Colonial 
Documents, VIII. 111-157. The treaty and a map to ilkistrate it are also 
in the same volume of this collection, pp. 135-137. See Winsor, Narra- 
tive and Critical History, VI. Ch. IX. 

2 Probably the fairest statement of the right and wrong involved in the 
displacement of the Indian by the white man is to be found in the pages 
of Theodore Roosevelt's Winning of the West. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17(53 307 

West were to be disturbed by isolated outbreaks of the 
natives; but at the most, these hostile demonstrations 
caused only temporary lulls in that great westward move- 
ment which could not have been withstood had the in- 
habitants of the country been thrice as numerous and 
powerful as they were. In the final analysis the conflict 
between the Indian and the white man in the Middle 
West was prompted by the utmost contrariety of ideas 
and practice on the subject of landholding. The native 
population of the Mississippi Valley was very small, but 
according to the Indian's way of thinking and acting 
there was not room for more, especially of an alien race. 
Great areas of utterly uninhabited country, like the larger 
part of the present state of Kentucky, were required for 
hunting expeditions and for battle-grounds of the rival 
tribes. Indian agriculture was of the most primitive 
type, and the ties which bound the people to their habita- 
tions were correspondingly loose. Had the Indians been 
gathered in settled communities, in which land was held 
b}^ a fixed tenure, their dispossession against their will 
would have been well-nigh indefensible. But under the 
system which prevailed, the taking of territory unused, 
if not actually misused, and the devoting of it to the ser- 
vice of the expanding civilization of the East, can hardly 
be reprobated by even the most extreme humanitarians. 
The methods of conquest sometimes pursued by the 
frontiersmen may be heartily condemned, but the ultimate 
aim of these hardy home-seekers must meet quite gener- 
ally with approval. 

By the time peace was again thoroughly restored in the 
West, the period of great migration was near its opening. 



308 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The strongest impulses of the sort came from Virginia, 
where the rapid exhaustion of the soil by unscientific to- 
bacco-growing created a perennial hunger for new lands. 
Many of the Virginians turned southward into the Caro- 
linas for relief, but many more of them looked rather to 
the West, where were millions of acres of lands awaiting 
their first opportunity to produce food supplies and other 
marketable commodities. Among the pioneers were also 
numerous bands of naturalized foreignei's, especially of 
the Moravian faith. In 1763 the British Parliament had 
provided by law for the naturalization of all Protestants 
of foreign birth who had served in tlie royal army in 
America, and had purchased lands and settled. The 
Moravian missionaries had long been active in some of 
the eastern colonies, especially Pennsylvania, but the 
unfriendly disposition of their neighbors led them gradu- 
ally to push farther west into the valley of tlie Musk- 
ingum and other tributaries of the upper Ohio.^ After 
the close of the war the routes which had been opened 
for military purposes were kept in service by streams of 
emigrants, and it is estimated that between the years 1763 
and 1768 not fewer than twenty thousand whites settled 
across the mountains, although it is to be understood, of 
course, that but very few of these people got far beyond 
the eastern brim of the Mississippi Basin. Strong protest 

1 Loskiel, History of the United Brethren [London, 1794]. The mis- 
sionaries called themselves United Brethren, though to people outside their 
church they were known as Moravians. Winsor considers the house built 
by the missionary. Christian Frederic Post, on the north side of Tuscara- 
was Creek, in what is now Starke County, in 1761, to be " probably the 
first white man's house in the wilds of Ohio." The Mississippi Basin, 
445. See Fernow, The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days, 173, and Park- 
man, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, 128. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 309 

was entered by the British authorities against sucli ex- 
tensive migration, but quite without effect.^ The proc- 
lamation of 1763 had not been avowedly annulled by the 
crown, and the colonial governors were admonished to 
enforce its provisions regarding the settlement of the 
crown lands. But though threats were repeatedly made, 
and even soldiers sent in a few cases to expel settlers 
from the lands they had chosen, the royal prohibition 
remained substantially a dead letter. Even Washington, 
who was yet as loyal and law-abiding a subject as King- 
George had, did not scruple to send out his agents and 
surveyors through the Ohio country to mark out specially 
desirable tracts, and indicate, by blazing the trees on 
their bounds, that they had been laid claim to for futui'e 
patenting.'^ 

It was not until the early part of 1765 that the first 
successful efforts were made by the English to take 
possession of the left bank of the Mississippi. In Feb- 
ruary, 1761, Major Arthur Loftus, with a company of 
perhaps four hundred soldiers who had recently been 
employed in establishing English authority at Mobile 
and other points in the Floridas, had attempted to ascend 
the river from New Orleans for the purpose of supplant- 
ing the French with the British flag at Fort Chartres and 
other posts to the north. But the expedition was attacked 
and repulsed by Indians, possibly incited by the French, 

1 Moses, lUiiiois, Ilistoricrtl and Statistical, 138. 

2 On Washi niton's speculations in western lands, see Herbert B. 
Adams, " Maryland's Influence in Founding a National Commonwealth," 
in the Manjland Historical Socicly PuhUcatiuns, No. XI., Appendix, pp. 
72-02, and in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and 
Political Science, III. 55-77. 



310 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

when it had gone only so far as Davion's Bluff, or Fort 
Adams, 240 miles from New Orleans. ^ At the end of 
his campaign in the Muskingum Valley the following 
summer, Colonel Bouquet sent a party under Lieutenant 
Fraser from Fort Pitt to prepare the inhabitants of the 
Illinois country for transfer to English sovereignty. But 
this expedition also failed. The French conspired to put 
Fraser to death, and, strangely enough, it was only by 
the intervention of Pontiac that he was able to escape 
down the Mississippi by way of New Orleans and reach 
the safety of the seaboard colonies. ^ A jear later (May, 
1765), Sir William Johnson, acting on the recommenda- 
tion of Bouquet, despatched George Croghan with two 
boats and several white companions to attempt the task 
at which Loftus and Fraser had failed.^ Croghan was a 
man of such experience and tact that success might well 
be expected to attend his efforts. He began by prepar- 
ing to explore and plot the entire course of the Ohio, 
and though the drawings which he made are not very 

1 D'Abbadie, the French director-general at New Orleans, was said by 
the commandant Aubry, in a letter to tlie French government, to have 
"caused the Indians to be harangued in favor of the English," and to 
have done all that he could to insure the success of Loftus's expedition. 
This may very well be true, and yet the suspicion of Loftus that other 
French officials tampered with the Indians be well founded. Gayarr6, 
History of Louisiana, II. 101 ; Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, bSl. 

~ 3Iichigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, X. 216. 

3 On the mission of Croghan, see Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, 
Ch. XXX. The materials for its history are three of Croghan's journals, 
as follows : (1) the official journal sent to Sir William Johnson, printed 
in O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents, VII. 779-788 ; (2) a 
topographical journal which appeared in the Monthly American Journal 
of Geology and Natural Science, December, 1831 ; and (8) a general 
narrative printed in S. P. Hildreth, Pioneer History. These journals are 
fully characterized in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI. 704. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 311 

accurate, his account of the fauna and flora of the river's i 
banks is extremely interesting and valuable. Friendly 
Indians were sent out to bring in all the French traders 
who remained in the upper part of the valley, and these, 
when gathered at the mouth of the Scioto, were com- 
pelled to take an oath of allegiance to the English gov- 
ernment. Their eighteen months of grace had long since 
expired, and by remaining east of the river they had put 
themselves inevitably in the way of English citizenship. 
On the Gth of June Croghan reached the mouth of the 
Wabash, near which point the expedition was attacked 
two days later by a band of Kickapoos and Mascotins. 
The Englishmen had been joined on the upper Ohio by 
several Delawares, Shawnees, and Iroquois, and the attack 
by the lower tribes was made on the pretence that they 
believed the redskin companions of Croghan to be un- 
friendly Cherokees from the South. The entire party 
was taken captive and carried within a week to Vin- 
cennes, — at this time, according to Croghan, a squalid 
village containing about eighty Frenchmen and several 
times as many Indians. ^ Croghan's men became separated, 
but the commander liimself, after being sent up the river 
to the French post, Ouiatanon, at the Maumee portage, 
was given his freedom. At this point a great conference 
was held with the Indian leaders of tlie West, including 
Pontiac, with the result that more harmonious relations 
were established, and Pontiac, appreciating tlie inevitable- 

1 For the early history of this important French settlement, see Jacob 
P. Dunn, Jr., "The Founding of Post Vincennes," in the Magazine of 
American History, XXII. 143-158, and tiie same author's Indiana, Ch. 
11. ; William II. Smith, History of Indiana, I. Ch. I. ; and John B. 
Dillon, History of Indiana, Chs. VI. and VII. 



312 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ness of English dominance, made it understood that if 
plenty of powder, lead, and rum were furnished, the 
English would thereafter have nothing to fear from his 
people and their allies. After making promises as 
safely guarded as possible, Croghan continued his journey 
down the Maumee, and on the 17th of August reached 
Detroit, where the allegiance of the assembled Indians 
was similarly secured. He then went on to Niagara and 
reported to Johnson that conditions in the West were 
ripe for the establishment of English supremacy. He 
had failed in the primary object of his trip, but he had 
prepared the way for some later comer. 

As soon as the report was received. Captain Thomas 
Stirling was despatched from Fort Pitt with 120 sol- 
diers to complete the work. The expedition met with 
no resistance, and early in October Fort Chartres, the 
last to fly the tricolor, was reached. On the 10th of 
the month the French flag was hauled down, and the 
commandant, Louis Saint-Ange, gave up his authority.^ 
A large proportion of the inhabitants took up their abode 

1 " Minute of the Surrender of Fort Chartres to the English," in 
O'Callaghan, New York Colonial Documents^ X. 1161-1165 ; Corre- 
spondence of M. de St. Ange, "Commandant at the Illinois," and M. 
d'Abbadie, governor of Louisiana, ihid., 1157-1161. On the surrender, 
see W. L. Stone, Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, II. 252; 
Mason, Chapters from Illinois History, 2o2-238 ; and Moses, Illinois, 
Historical and Statistical, I. Ch. VIII. On page 134 of the last-named 
book is a plan of the settlements and Indian villages in the Illinois 
country, prepared in 1771 by Thomas Hutchins, a captain in the British 
army. In 1772 Fort Chartres vpas wholly abandoned by reason of a flood, 
which washed away a portion of its defences. Its site does not now form 
part of the bed of the Mississippi, though this is affirmed by both Park- 
man and Winsor. It is more than a mile from the stream. See Mason, 
Chapters from Illinois History, 242. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 313 

across the river at St. Louis where Saint-Ange estab- 
lished his new headquarters,^ and in 1767 it was esti- 
mated that not more than two thousand people of French 
descent were left on the east side of the Mississippi. 
More recent investigation, however, seems to warrant 
us in believing that there never had been many more 
than that number of Frenchmen in the territory in ques- 
tion. While still at Fort Chartres Captain Stirling was 
reenforced by a regiment under Major Farmer, which 
ascended the river from New Orleans, propitiating the 
natives as it advanced, and using every influence to coun- 
teract the French inducements held out to the Chickasaws 
and Choctaws to cross to the western side and so deprive 
the English of the benefits of their trade. 

Although during the years between the suppression 
of the Pontiac rebellion and the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion the French population remaining east of the Missis- 
sippi was nominally subject to English authority, the con- 
ditions of frontier life nevertheless allowed the Creoles to 
live on very much as they had done in times before the 
change of sovereignt3^ Under the old regime such small 
measure of political independence as they enjoyed had 
been due exclusively to their isolation, and they had never 
learned what it is to exercise by natural or constitutional 
right the functions of self-government. Hence, despite 
their first api^rehensions, tliey changed masters with com- 
parative facility. Toward the scarlet-uniformed British 
officer they were distrustful, and toward the crude back- 
woodsman from Virginia or Carolina disdainful ; but as 
long as they were undisturbed in property and privileges 
1 Frederic L. Billon (compiler), Annals of St. Louis, 25. 



314 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of trade they were inclined to make the best of their new 
political relation. Their resignation was fostered also by 
the policy of the British commandants on the Illinois and 
at Vincennes in continuing the old laws and usages, and 
in general adopting the French system of control in the 
"West. The French language was used in the courts 
along with the English, and all important documents 
and records of public transactions were translated into 
it for the convenience of the Creoles. In respect to land 
allotments also the English followed the practice of the 
French, i.e. that the commandants should exercise the 
power of granting demesne lands in such quantities as 
were petitioned for, on the one condition that a portion 
of the grant be cultivated within a year.i The Creoles, 
however, rarely became thrifty agriculturists. They 
vastly preferred the more exciting pursuits of the trader 
and trapper. Their half-savage manner of life was fos- 
tered by frequent intermarriage with the Indians, and 
in time their language became a mere corrupt jargon of 
French and the native dialects. There was much of 
hardship and peril in their lives ; jQt with music, danc- 
ing, and numerous holiday festivities, they contrived to 
crowd more pleasure into a year than the average English 
pioneer got in a lifetime. 

Late in June, 1763, Kerlerec, after serving as governor 
of Louisiana for about ten and a half years, was recalled 
in disgrace and thrown into the Bastile. He was charged 
with various indiscretions and crimes in the administra- 

1 B. A. Hinsdale, "The Western Land Policy of the British Govern- 
ment from 1763 to 1775," in the Ohio Archvuological and Historical 
Quarterly, I. 207-229. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 176.1 315 

tion of his office, especially with extravagance and em- 
bezzlement, and there seems little doubt that he was 
guilty. From papers preserved in the Archives of the 
Marine Department it appears that the moral debasement 
which infected the provincial government was at this 
time generally characteristic of the populace of Louisiana. 
Slavery, bribery, drunkenness, brawling, duelling, and 
prostitution were rife. Fevers and other diseases added 
greatly to the horrors of life in and around New Orleans. 
The new governor, Sieur d'Abbadie, was a man of upright 
character and considerable ability, but his position was 
indeed an unenviable one. The finances of the province 
were in hopeless chaos, the subordinate officials were firmly 
wedded to a s^^stem of bribery and plunder, the people 
were poor and in many cases thriftless. ^ And scarcely 
was the new administration begun before the treaty of 
Paris compelled a complete readjustment of relations on 
the east. 

This latter circumstance prevented D'Abbadie from con- 
centrating his efforts upon the settlement of domestic 
questions as he would have liked to do. Read from its 
English side the story of the transfer of the eastern 
Mississippi Valley from France to England differs ma- 
terially from the French version of it. The English 
annalists tell us only how irritating and selfish and 
obnoxious was the conduct of the New Orleans authori- 
ties, while the records left by these authorities are fairly 

^ The most important contemporary treatise on Louisiana history, after 
1760, is Chevalier de Champigny, "Memoir of the Present State of 
Louisiana," in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 129-233; 
on the period from 1762 until the arrival of the Spanish authorities at 
New Orleans in 1766, ibid., 139-148. 



316 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

crowded with impeachments of the character, motives, 
and conduct of the agents of the English. At every 
point there was controversy, and in all the English were 
little less than two years in acquiring the possession 
guaranteed them by the treaty. D'Abbadie's opinion of 
their methods of procedure is indicated by his declara- 
tion that " they never fail on every occasion to harass 
me with innumerable objections and artifices of the 
pettiest and most groundless chicanery." Nyon de Vil- 
liers, who had forced Washington to surrender at Fort 
Necessity in 1756 and who was subsequently in com- 
mand of the Illinois country, wrote as follows to 
D'Abbadie concerning the dealings of the English with 
the Indians in that region : " The English, as soon as 
they became aware of the advantages secured to them 
by the treaty of cession, kept no measure with the 
Indians, whom they treated with the harshness and the 
haughtiness of masters, and whose faults they punished 
by crucifixion, hanging, and every sort of torments. 
They wish to wipe away from the minds of the Indians 
the very recollection of the French name ; and, in their 
harangues to these people, in order to induce them to 
forego their old attachment for us, they use, in reference 
to our nation, expressions which are very far from being 
respectful, not to say gross and rude. I will, however, 
endeavor to dispose the Indians favorably towards the 
English, although their hostility to them is very great, 
and although they refuse to listen to words of peace on 
this subject."^ The historian Gayarre well says, "When 
it is considered that, in the opinion of Villiers, his brother 
1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, II. 98. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 317 

Jiimonville bad been basely assassinated by the English,^ 
it must be admitted that his letter, as recorded here, is 
a monument of his moderation and magnanimity, and is 
one of the proofs of the more than good faith with 
Avhich the treaty of cession was executed by the French 
officers, and another demonstration that the complaints 
of the English about the obstacles thrown in their way 
by those officers were not well founded." ^ 

Regarding the state of the Louisiana country the new 
governor wrote to the French ministry, June 7, 1764, as 
follows : " I have the honor to submit my observations 
on the character and dispositions of the inhabitants of 
Louisiana. The disorder long existing in the colony, 
and particularly in its finances, proceeds from the spirit 
of jobbing which has been prevalent here at all times, 
and which lias engrossed the attention and faculties of 
the colonists. It began in 1737, not only on the cur- 
rency of the country, but also on the bills of exchange, 
on the merchandise in the king's warehouses, and on 
everything which was susceptible of it. It is to this 
pursuit that the inhabitants have been addicted in pref- 
erence to cultivating their lands, and to any other oc- 
cupation, by which the prosperity of the colony would 
have been promoted. ... If the inhabitants of Louisi- 
ana had turned their industry to anything else beyond 
jobbing on the king's paper and merchandise, they 
would have found great resources in the fertility of the 
land and the mildness of the climate. But the facility 
offered by the country to live on its natural productions 

1 During Washington's Great Meadows campaign in 1754. 

2 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, II. 99. 



318 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

has created habits of laziness. Hence the spirit of 
insubordination and independence which has manifested 
itself under several administrations. I will not relate 
the excesses and outrages which occurred under Roche- 
more and Kerlerec. Notwithstanding the present tran- 
quillity, the same spirit of sedition does not the less 
exist in the colony. It reappears in the thoughtless 
expressions of some madcaps, and in the anonymous 
writings scattered among the public. The uncertainty 
in which I am, with regard to the ultimate fate of the 
colony, has prevented me from resorting to extreme 
measures, to repress such license ; but it will be neces- 
sary to come to it at last, to reestablish the good order 
which has been destroyed, and to regulate the conduct 
and the morals of the inhabitants."^ 

The more clearly these conditions became understood 
in France the more determined were the French officials 
not to let pass the opportunity which the close of the 
Seven Years' War brought to thrust the burden of gov- 
erning the province upon the Spanish. However hu- 
milating to national pride, the cession of Louisiana 
meant only the disencumbering of the national treasury. 
The undeveloped character of the country, the difficul- 
ties of colonization, the constant necessity of bribing the 
Indians against the English, and the indifferent character 
of a large part of the inhabitants, rendered the land so 
profitless that frequently men who had received large 
grants gave them up as entailing more expense than the 
income would cover. Louisiana had proved a dead 
weight in the hands of the great merchant Crozat, and 
1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana., II. 104. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 319 

tie had been glad to rid himself of the burden as early 
IS possible. The Company of the West had buried 
more than 20,000,000 livres in the wilderness, with- 
Dut a shadow of profit. The French government had 
squandered between 40,000,000 and 50,000,000 livres in 
3olonization schemes, with only the most discouraging 
i-esults. And not only had such great capital been con- 
sumed uselessly, but from every quarter it was borne in 
Lipon the French that if they were even to retain pos- 
session of the western Mississippi Valley they must at 
3nce devote enormous suras to the increasing of forti- 
fications, strengthening of garrisons, buying the good- 
will of the Indians, and the establishing of more 
satisfactory trade relations between the American in- 
terior and Europe. The province itself was financially 
impotent. At the very time when it was being ceded 
to Spain by the secret treaty of November 3, 1762, the 
Local officials were repeatedly despatching to the home 
gfovernment that the colony was " in a state of complete 
destitution," that it was " a chaos of iniquities," and that 
to reestablish order therein " it would be necessary to 
have recourse to measures of an extreme character." 
It was therefore with slight regret that King Louis wrote 
to D'Abbadie a letter, April 21, 1764, containing an 
ofticial communication of the cession of Louisiana to 
Spahi. D'Abbadie was commissioned to "deliver up into 
the hands of the governor, or of the officer appointed 
to that effect, the said country and colony of Louisiana, 
with the settlements or posts tliereto appertaining, to- 
gether with the town and island of New Orleans, such 
as they may be found on the day of said delivery, it 



320 THE O'PENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

being my will that, for the future, they belong to his 
Catholic Majesty, to be governed and administered by 
his governors and officers, as belonging to him, fully, 
and without reserve and exception."^ Upon the arrival 
of a duly accredited agent of Spain the French soldiers 
and governmental employees were to be immediately 
withdrawn. D'Abbadie was directed to collect all papers 
relative to the finances and administration of the colony 
and carry them in person to Paris, except that papers 
whose character would render them serviceable to the 
new magistrates were to be deposited with properly 
authorized persons at New Orleans. 

The king's letter was published in October, 1764. By 
the colonists the news it contained was received with 
extreme disfavor. For two years they had alternated 
between hope and fear, but at last the blow had fallen. 
Resentment at the transfer of the eastern Mississippi 
Valley to the English had been strong ; but the colonists 
understood as well as anybody that France had been 
forced to this move, and besides, as we have seen, the 
number of Frenchmen east of the river was inconsider- 
able. But the alienation of Louisiana proper — the main 
body of the colony — was an event almost wholly unex- 
pected. Unsatisfactory as conditions were, the Louisian- 
ians still greatly preferred that the French regime be 
continued. " As Frenchmen, they felt that a deep wound 
had been inflicted on their pride by the severing in twain 
of Louisiana, and the distribution of its mutilated parts 

1" Louis the Fifteenth to M. d'Abbadie," April 21, 1704, in French, 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 143-144. See Gayarr^, History 
of Louisiana, II. 110, and Martin, History of Louisiana, I. 346. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 321 

between England and Spain. As men, they felt the 
degradation of being bartered away as marketable objects ; 
they felt the loss of their national character and rights, 
and the humiliation of their sudden transformation into 
Spaniards or Englishmen without their consent. As colo- 
nists, as property owners, as members of a civilized 
society, they were agitated by all the apprehensions con- 
sequent upon a change of laws, manners, customs, habits, 
and government." 1 D'Abbadie was much chagrined at 
the turn affairs had taken. No one understood better 
than he the weaknesses of the colony and 'the financial 
outlay that would be necessary to defend it ; yet he still 
conceived it to be possible for France to build up a great 
self-sustaining dependency between the Mississippi and 
the Rockies, and he regarded the cession to Spain as not 
only grossly unjust to Louis XV. 's loyal subjects in 
America, but as an inexcusable attempt of the court to 
save money for the time at the expense of future national 
wealth and prestige. But it was worse than useless to 
argue the question. The Spaniards were very slow in pre- 
paring to take possession, and D'Abbadie died, February 4, 
1765, while yet retaining the governorship. He was suc- 
ceeded in office by Aubry, who for some time had been 
commander of the royal troops in the colony. 

By the English the substitution of Spanish for French 
dominance west of the Mississippi was hailed with un- 
feigned delight. The French had long blocked the way 
to the fullest development of English trade in the West, 
and as a consequence the feeling between the two peoples 
along the frontier lines was far from friendly. The wars 
^ Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, II. 113. 



322 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

and the removal of the French had considerably thinned 
the population east of the river, and it was highly impor- 
tant that free access be had to the more numerous peoples 
on the other side. It was well understood that the Span- 
iards were less devoted to commerce than the French, and 
that under their government the English would meet with 
little rivalry in the control of the Indian trade. " The 
English," wrote Governor Dobbs of North Carolina, " can 
now extend their trade beyond the Mississippi and reach 
the Spaniards of New and Old Mexico, by pushing on our 
discoverers and traders by the Missouri and the rivers 
west of the Mississippi, and so secure an open trade to 
the westward American ocean." ^ Nevertheless, the Span- 
iards subsequently proved not so easy to deal with as had 
been expected, and they even succeeded in detaching 
traffic from the English as far north as Kaskaskia and 
Detroit ; while the question of the right of the English to 
navigate freely the Mississippi became one of extreme 
difficulty in the time of the American Revolution. 

As soon as the inhabitants of Louisiana became aware 
of the cession to Spain, they resolved to bring every possi- 
ble influence to bear on the king to retract the bargain. 
A convention, in which every parish was represented and 
which contained many of the ablest men of the colony, was 
assembled at New Orleans, and a resolution was unani- 
mously adopted supplicating the king not to allow his 
people thus to be cast off by their mother country. A 
special committee, headed by Jean Milhet, was despatched 
to present the colonists' petition to the crown. Milhet's 
first act after arriving at Paris was to seek out Bienville, 
1 Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, 465. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NElGIlBOllS AFTER 1763 323 

now an old man of eighty-five, but the best friend the 
colony had in Europe, and secure his cooperation in the 
representations that were to be made to tlie Court. Bien- 
ville Avas deeply grieved at the prospect of the alienation 
of the province which he had done so much to secure for 
France, and readily consented to join Milhet in an in- 
terview with the prime minister, the Due de Clioiseul. 
When an audience was obtained, Milhet presented the 
petition and sought with every argument he could com- 
mand to win a favorable reception for it. Afterwards 
Bienville made a long and eloquent plea, "like a father 
suing for the life of his child." But, though Clioiseul 
received the petition with extreme courtesy, he declared it 
quite impossible to change the course affairs had taken. 
The tears and entreaties of the broken-hearted Bienville 
moved the minister to deep sympathy, but he could only 
close the interview by saying : " Gentlemen, I must put an 
end to this painful scene. I am deeply grieved at not being 
able to give you any hope. I have no hesitation in telling 
you that I cannot address the king on this subject, because 
I myself advised the cession of Louisiana. Is it not to your 
knowledge that the colony cannot continue its precarious 
existence, except at an enormous expense, of which France 
is now utterly incapable ? Is it not better, then, that Lou- 
isiana should be given away to a friend and faithful ally, 
than be wrested from us by an hereditary foe? Farewell, 
— you have my best wishes. I can do no more."^ The 
mission had failed. Milhet waited vainly about the court 
for some months and then embarked for Louisiana. During 
his few remaining years the veteran Bienville kept up his 
1 Gayarr^, llistnrtj of Louisiana, II. 129. 



324 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

interest in the colony, but could do nothing to save it from 
alienation. 

The delay of the Spaniards in taking possession at New 
Orleans encouraged the Louisianians for a year and more 
to believe that after all the treaty of cession would not be 
put into effect. Even after Milhet's rebuff this delusion 
continued to be cherished. But about the middle of July, 
1765, the Superior Council received a letter from Don 
Antonio de Ulloa, containing the information that he had 
been commissioned by the Spanish king to proceed to 
New Orleans and assume possession, and that he was 
already at Havana.^ The summer and autumn months of 
1765 slipped past, and as still Ulloa did not arrive, many 
of the colonists were again led to believe that the treaty 
was only a sham intended to cover some diplomatic 
manoeuvre. At last, however, March 5, 1766, the Spanish 
agent appeared with two companies of infantry and a 
number of persons who had been commissioned to fill the 
offices of commissary of war, intendant, comptroller, and 
treasurer. By the inhabitants he was received respect- 
fully, but sullenly, and without the least show of enthu- 
siasm. Aubry drew up the local militia on the levee 
and showed the new governor such attention as he could ; 
but the storm of rain and wind which accompanied the 
landing of the Spaniards was popularly considered a fit 
inauguration of the new regime. The Superior Council 
demanded that Ulloa produce evidence of his authority to 
act for the Spanish king ; but he curtly refused, declaring 
that he proposed to deal only with Governor Aubry, and 
moreover that he did not intend to assume possession 

1 Chainpigny, " Memoirs of Louisiana," in French, Historical CoUec- 
tioiis iif Louisiana, V. 150. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 325 

until satisfactory arrangements should have been made for 
the passing of a part of the French troops under his com- 
mand for the continued defence of the colony. However, 
he proceeded to visit the various posts and settlements of 
the province and to take a census of their population. The 
result showed that Louisiana contained 5562 white people, 
with approximately an equal number of slaves. 

The Spanish king could hardly have selected a man 
of stronger character or more brilliant attainments than 
Ulloa for the establishment of the Spanish regime in 
Louisiana. His career had been long and varied, and he 
had won almost equal laurels in the two great fields of 
science and administration. At the time of his appoint- 
ment to the Louisiana post he was commander of the fleet 
of the Indies and was considered to be better informed 
on naval affairs than any other Spaniard. His master, 
Charles IIL, was above the average of Spanish monarchs 
in intelligence and force of character, and under the 
guidance of two such men there was some reason to 
expect that the change of sovereignty in Louisiana would 
be accomplished without menace to the inhabitants. In 
his instructions to Ulloa, King Charles emphasized the 
fact that Louisiana was not to be subjected to the harsh 
and restrictive colonial system elsewhere prevailing in 
the Spanish dominions. " I have resolved," he writes, 
"that, in that new acquisition, there be no change in tlie 
administration of its government, and therefore, that it 
be not subjected to the laws and usages which are ob- 
served in my American dominions, from which it is a 
distinct colony, and with which it is to have no com- 
merce. It is my will that it be independent of the minis- 



326 THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

try of the Indies, of its council, and of the other tribunals 
annexed to it ; and that all which may be relative to that 
colony shall pass through the ministry of state, and that 
you communicate to me, through that channel alone, 
whatever may be appertaining to your government."^ 
But the inhabitants of the colony continued to be sus- 
picious, and even openly hostile. Every possible obstacle 
was thrown in the way of the new governor. His plan 
to redeem the worthless paper currency with which the 
Louisianians had long been cursed was thwarted. The 
French soldiers whose services had been promised by 
their government flatly refused to pass under the com- 
mand of the Spanish officers. Wherever the proud repre- 
sentatives of the majesty of Castile appeared they were 
frowned upon and scoffed at. 

All this came by way of surprise to Ulloa. In the lan- 
guage of Miss Grace King, " He seems to have approached 
Louisiana in the same cool, calm, critical spirit of scien- 
tific investigation that had actuated him in his recent 
expedition to determine the configuration of the earth at 
the equator, and he was about as much prepared to hear 
that the equator had risen up and protested against the 
results of his commission, as to find that other purely 
theoretical factor, the will of the people of Louisiana, in 
opposition to his presence and functions. He expected 
the country to change its flag and allegiance, the soldiers 
their service, the people their nationality, as a thing 
of the most commonplace of course." ^ Ulloa's whole 

1 Gayarre, History of Louisiana, II. 258. 

2 Grace King, New Orleans, 97. See Champigny's striking characteri- 
zation of Ulloa, French, Historical Collections of Louisiccna, V. 162. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 327 

political training had been such as to lead him to ignore 
absolutely in all" such transactions the factor of popular 
sentiment. He had been accustomed to regard the dis- 
position of empires and populations as a divinely bestowed 
prerogative of monarchs, and under this theory the people 
were supposed to conduct themselves with due submissive- 
ness, whatever fortune was meted out to them. But even 
if the Louisianians had possessed the right to call in ques- 
tion the decree of their sovereign, Ulloa was at a loss to 
understand why they should care to do so. The colony, 
weak and destitute, had been cast off by its mother coun- 
try without a show of compunction. For half a century 
the tenure of the French king had conferred no benefit. 
The burden of administration was understood to be such 
that Spain, in assuming control, was really bestowing a 
favor upon the French court. The coming of the Span- 
iards could certainly not make conditions worse than they 
had long been, and there was every prospect of a change 
for the better. The specie of Spain was to be substituted 
for the stamped paper rags which had long since served 
their day as currency in the colony. Immediately upon 
his arrival Ulloa had hastened to make public his instruc- 
tions to the effect that no changes would take place in the 
civil organization, or in the laws, customs, and usages, of 
the province. He had repeatedly asserted that it was 
both his duty and his most ardent desire to do all in his 
power to be useful and agreeable to the people. To 
remove national prejudices he had put the Spanish troops 
on the same footing with the French, with regard to pay 
and promotion, and he had endeavored to the best of his 
ability to conduct himself always as a benevolent governor 



328 THE OPEMiNG OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of the colony and in no sense as a conqueror or despot. 
In view of all these considerations he could not but feel 
keenly the open contempt and hostility of the inhabitants. 
The general aspect of neglect and thriftlessness which 
was to be observed on every hand tended greatly to in- 
crease the new governor's disappointment. With a people 
suspicious, resentful, indolent, and a country swampy, 
fever-haunted, undeveloped, he could not look forward 
to either immediate prosperity or the early inauguration 
of a more wholesome regime. " From the bottom of my 
heart I pity you for having been sent to such a country," 
wrote Kerlerec from the Bastile ; and from every other 
French official who knew from observation the state of 
the colony came condolences hardly more reassuring. 

The refusal of the French troops to enter the Spanish 
service rendered Ulloa unable to take actual possession of 
the colony. His own soldiers numbered but ninety, and 
there was no immediate prospect of gaining reenforce- 
ments from Spain. Knowing that his presence at New 
Orleans but fomented the populace, he withdrew in Septem- 
ber, 1766, to the Balize, at the mouth of the Mississippi. 
His ostensible purpose was to establish a Spanish post in 
that vicinity, but tliis done, he remained there more than 
half a year. The Creoles at first believed that he had 
gone to meet the Spanish troops who were to garrison 
the colony after its change of masters ; but as this proved 
not to be the case, they concluded that he so despised the 
people of New Orleans that out of contempt for them he 
preferred to live in the uncouth quarters provided for 
him at the Balize. As a matter of fact Ulloa was busily 
engaged with his studies in astronomy and mathematics. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 329 

and, with characteristic scholarly instincts, was almost 
lost to the world of politics around him. It may be 
added, too, that while at the Balize he was awaiting the 
coming of his affianced bride, the Marquise d'Abrado, a 
rich and beautiful heiress from Peru, who arrived and be- 
came his wife in March, 1767. 

During Ulloa's sojourn at the Balize he was frequently 
visited by Aubry. For several months there had been 
an understanding between the two to the effect that 
while the latter should retain the governorship nomi- 
nally, because of his command of the soldiery, Ulloa 
should give instructions from time to time and even issue 
decrees which the French magistrate should enforce. 
Late in 1766 Ulloa proposed that he should take posses- 
sion of Louisiana at the Balize, and that the French flag 
be displaced there as elsewhere by the Spanish. Aubry 
thought such a course unwise, urging that the ceremony 
ought to be an impressive one, and should take place no- 
where but in New Orleans, in the presence of the masses 
of the people to be affected by it. Upon Ulloa's insist- 
ence, however, Aubry yielded so far as to sign a docu- 
ment by which the Spaniard was put in possession of the 
province, with the right to substitute the Spanish flag for 
the French whenever it should please him to do so. The 
public ceremony of transfer was to be postponed until the 
arrival of the Spanish troops.^ 

After Ulloa's return to New Orleans the tide of public 
opinion set in more strongly against him than ever. His 
manner of living, his tastes, his habits, his conversations, 

1 Champi,2:ny in his " Memoir " j^ives Aubry's account of this arrange- 
ment. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 157. 



330 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the most trivial matters of his household, were held up to 
public scorn. His wife pursued a course of hauteur and 
arrogance toward the creole ladies, refused to have au}^- 
thing to do with New Orleans society, attended mass only 
in her private chapel, and by every word and look in- 
creased the jealousy and malignity with which, from her 
first appearance in the colony, she had been regarded. 
Ulloa was a man of amiable disposition, but withal of a 
rather hasty and nervous temperament ; and it was quite 
impossible for him to conceal his surprise and disgust at 
the turn affairs had taken. The opposition of the Louisi- 
anians was certainly of a most petty and irritating charac- 
ter. It was not based on any fundamental considerations 
of right and wrong, but was a matter largely of whim and 
malicious spite. Under the circumstances Ulloa seems to 
have held his temper remarkably well. 

The crisis was reached with the return of Milhet from 
Paris in 1768. His long absence had encouraged the 
people to believe that, despite the first news of failure, he 
might yet be successful in his mission of saving the colony 
from alienation. At last he came, however, witli nothing 
more to report than that repeated attempts to present the 
colonists' petition at court had, without exception, been 
repulsed. This was the last straw. " Popular dis- 
appointment and chagrin flamed into a fury of passion, 
which swept discretion and judgment before it. There 
was to be heard in the streets nothing but loud voicings 
of the hatred of Spain, and the loathing of the yoke about 
to be put upon them. Calm was completely destroyed 
from one end of the colony to the other ; the wildest ex- 
citement prevailed, meetings were held everywhere, in 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 331 

which heated addresses inflamed still more the violence of 
feeling."! 'pj-^g outcome was that a band of conspirators, 
which had probably long been organizing in New Orleans, 
was put directly in the way of executing its deep-laid 
purpose of expelling the Spaniards from the colony by 
force. The leaders in the plot were among the most in- 
fluential men of the city, including Lafreniere, plebeian 
by birth, but of indomitable energy and ambition ; Fou- 
caut, the intendant commissary ; Masan, a retired captain 
of infantry and a w^ealthy planter ; Marquis, a captain in 
the Swiss troops enlisted in the service of France ; Noyan 
and Bienville, both nephews of the elder Bienville ; Dou- 
cet, a distinguished lawyer recently from France ; and a 
considerable number of principal merchants. The ren- 
dezvous of the conspirators was the elegant villa of 
Madame Pradel in the upper outskirts of the city, about 
w^liere Common and Carondelet streets cross to-day. 
Their first move Avas to call another meeting of represen- 
tatives from the parishes. This body formulated an ad- 
dress to the Superior Council, calling upon it to proclaim 
Ulloa an usurper and order his departure from the colony. 
This paper was signed by more than five hundred citi- 
zens and was scattered throughout the entire country. 
The Superior Council, stirred by the convention's appeal, 
issued a decree to the effect that unless Ulloa should pro- 
duce his credentials before the civil tribunal of the colony 
within one month, he should be ordered to depart as a 
public enemy. 2 The Spaniard's sense of dignity and honor 

^ Grace King, New Orleans, 99. 

2 The decree of the Superior Council is printed in French, Historical 
Collections of Louisiana., "V. 164-177, note. 



332 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

did not permit him to comply with the request, and he 
at once began preparations to withdraw. 

The popular uprising met with no favor from Aubry. 
In protesting against the action of the Superior Council he 
declared that, notwithstanding the small force at his dis- 
posal, he would, with all his might, oppose Ulloa's depar- 
ture, had he not been "apprehensive of endangering his life, 
as well as the lives of all the Spaniards in this country." 
Although he regretted as much as any one the prospect 
of Spanish domination, his ideas of military and political 
subordination were such as to lead him to disapprove 
thoroughly any attempt of the people by force to escape 
their doom. He remonstrated with the citizens, por- 
trayed the direful punishments Spain would mete out to 
them, and endeavored as best he could to incline them to 
a more submissive course. But his well-intended efforts 
were in vain. The people were not in a mood to be 
reasoned with. Perceiving this, Aubry then did what he 
could to relieve Ulloa's expulsion of its harsher features, 
— even, indeed, to attach some degree of dignity to it. 
He assembled all the military strength of the city and 
escorted the rejected Spanish governor to the levee. A 
salute was fired in honor of those about to depart, and 
sentries were stationed to guard Ulloa's ship. All this, 
however, did not prevent a band of young Frenchmen 
from hastening the voyage by stealing to the levee in the 
darkness of the following night and cutting the cables by 
which the vessel was moored. Ulloa and his suite dropped 
down the river to await developments. 

The committee of citizens which had addressed the 
Superior Council now drew up a manifesto to their con- 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 333 

stituents, explaining what they had done and justifying 
their course.^ A copy of this document was despatched 
to the French prime minister, in the hope that such con- 
clusive evidence of the loyalty of the colony would in- 
fluence a reversal of the mother country's disposal of it. 
At the same time the new deputies, St. Lette and Lesassier, 
were ordered to present to Choiseul a formal petition for 
relief.2 Ulloa also sent to his government a copy of the 
iNIemorial of the Merchants and Planters, accompanied 
with various imprecations against the leaders in the 
movement by which he had been banished. " A momen- 
tary calm, like the still pause between the blasts of a 
hurricane, fell over Louisiana and the Louisianians while 
awaiting a response from France. Surely the king would 
now reconsider ! They had proved their mettle, shown 
that they would not, could not, pass under Spanish rule. 
They had committed no violence, but in an orderly, legal 
manner expelled the intruder. France, at any rate, could 
not but stand by her sons."^ Nevertheless, there was 
much uncertainty as to the result of the appeal. Re- 
peated failures in the past had discouraged even the most 
sanguine. At this juncture there were not lacking those 
who favored bidding defiance to both the European powers 
and transforming Louisiana into an independent republic, 
and Noyan de Bienville made a secret journey to Pensa- 
cola to sound the British agent there on the probable atti- 

1 " Memorial of the Merchants and Planters of Louisiana on the Events 
of the 29th of October, 1768," French, Historical Collections of Louisi- 
ana, V. 218-230, note. 

2 This so-called " Petition of the Colonists and Merchants to the King " 
is printed in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 178-170, 
note. ^ Grace King, iVp?o Orleans, 105. 



334 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

tude of his government in event of such action. But the 
project met with such discouragement from this quarter 
as to end it without further question. The Englishman 
rebuffed the republican emissary with scant courtesy, and 
lost no time in transmitting to Spain the facts concerning 
the movement which he had gathered from Bienville. ^ 

On the morning of July 24, 1769, the whole town of 
New Orleans was thrown into a commotion by the arrival 
of a messenger who came post haste from the Balize with 
the news that a great armament, under command of Count 
Alexander O'Reilly, lieutenant-general of the armies of 
Spain, had just made its appearance at the mouth of the 
Mississippi and was ready to advance to the conquest, if 
necessary, of the province. This meant that the last hope 
of the Louisiana French that the treaty of cession would be 
abrogated was shattered. Petitions, entreaties, speeches, 
memorials, manifestoes, conspiracies, theories of govern- 
ment — all had gone for nothing, and the defenceless city 
of three thousand people lay awaiting whatsoever retri- 
bution the angered Spaniard might wish to visit upon 
her. " But whence," writes the chronicler Champigny in 
his Memoir, "comes this general murmur throughout the 
city ? They [the inhabitants] whisper, they dare not raise 
their voice, they come and go without knowing what they 
do. Pallor sits on every face, and tears soon begin to flow. 
Sobs stifle cries of grief. I share in the general fright. I 
ask the cause of tliis public alarm, of the frightful evil with 
which each seems overpowered. ' We are lost,' says a citi- 
zen to me ; ' our king abandons us ; the Spaniards are at 

1 Champigny's "Memoir," in French, Historical Collections of Lou- 
isiana, V. 178-183. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 335 

the Balize, and are coming to take possession of the col- 
ony. ' " 1 A hurried consultation among the late conspirators 
was held, and it was decided that, in view of the over- 
whelming strength of the Spanish fleet, the only practi- 
cable course was to submit as gracefully as possible, and 
by good conduct atone for the indignities shown Ulloa 
and his companions. ^ On the advice of Aubry, Lafreniere, 
Milhet, and Marquis accompanied the Spanish messenger 
down the river in order to obtain an early interview with 
O'Reilly, and present due apologies for the recent acts 
of insubordination in the colony. The three men were 
received with extreme courtesy, and Lafreniere as spokes- 
man was encouraged by O'Reilly's apparent fair-minded- 
ness to place the blame for UUoa's expulsion on the 
Spaniflrds rather than on the men who had really been 
responsible for the uprising. O'Reilly was given to 
understand that the Louisianians were now unanimous 
in their loyalty to their new master, the king of Spain, 
and that, but for Ulloa's high-handed conduct, possession 
might have been taken long before. 

The Spanish fleet of twenty-four vessels arrived at the 
New Orleans levee August 18. Already Aubry had as- 
sembled the terrified citizens in the open square, or Place 
d'Armes, and urged prompt and complete submission, 
with the result that, when the Spaniards appeared, there 

1 Champigny's "Memoir," in French, Historical Collections of Lou- 
isiana, V. 182. 

2 The most notable advocate of this policy was the Attorney-General 
Lafreniere. Champigny gives an interesting sketch of a speech by La- 
freniere to the people of New Orleans, in which the plan of conciliation 
was recommended. Frencli, Historical Collections of Louisiana, V. 
184-190. 



336 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

were no demonstrations whatever of opposition. At 
noon of the 18th all the militia and royal troops of 
the city were gathered in the Place d'Armes, facing the 
river, in order that their presence might lend dignity 
to the ceremony about to occur. The proceedings which 
followed are thus admirably sketched by Miss King in 
her valuable book on New Orleans : " Count O'Reilly, 
in all the pomp of representative majesty, heralded by 
music, preceded by silver maces, and followed by a 
glittering staff, descended the gangway from his ship 
to the levee, and, advancing to Aubry, presented his 
credentials from the king of Spain, and his orders to 
receive the colony. Three thousand Spanish soldiers 
filed after him from the other vessels to the levee, and 
formed on the three sides of the Place. The credentials 
and powers were read aloud to the citizens assembled, 
an anxious, nervous crowd. Aubry, after a proclamation 
releasing the colonists from their allegiance to France, 
presented the keys of the city to O'Reilly. The French 
flag was lowered, the Spanish raised ; the Spanish vessels 
saluted with their guns, the soldiers fired off their mus- 
kets and shouted ^Viva el Rey.'' The French guards 
were relieved by Spanish guards. The Spanish and 
French officers, then in procession, crossed the open 
space to the cathedral, where a Te Deum was celebrated. 
The ceremonies terminated with a grand parade of the 
Spanish troops, whose stern bearing, rigid discipline, and 
glittering equipments awed the crowds on the banquettes 
of the streets through which they passed." ^ 

1 Grace King, Xew Orleauft, 109. For other accounts of the inaugura- 
tion of the Spanish regime, and the administrative work of O'Reilly, see 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AETElt 1703 337 

The inauguration of Spanish sovereignty was now an 
accomplished fact ; it remained but to be seen what would 
be the effect upon the colony. O'Reilly established him- 
self in one of the most commodious houses in the city, 
where great numbers of the inhabitants sought him to 
tender their submission. For the most part, his demeanor 
was genial, and for a few days the people dared hope that 
no notice would be taken of their recent insubordination. 
But O'Reilly was not the man to pass by such offences 
lightly. As a mere youth he had abandoned his native 
country, discouraged by the disabilities suffered by Catho- 
lics there, and had sought fame and fortune in the service 
of Spain. He was a man of courage, resolution, and 
administrative ability, but all his education, military and 
political, had been Spanish; and he came to Louisiana 
in 1768 with a firm determination to bring order by 
force out of the chaos which had there existed during 
the past three years. The speedy submission of the 
colonists saved them from violence, but it was far from 
O'Reilly's intention that Ulloa's expulsion should go 
unavenged. 

On the 21st of August the new governor held a grand 
levee, to which Lafreniere, Masan, Marquis, Doucet, and 
the other ringleaders of the conspiracy were invited. 
As soon after the arrival at the viceregal hotel as oppor- 
tunity was afforded, O'Reilly asked them to follow him 
into an adjoining room, where he immediately threw off 
the disguise of hospitality, denounced his guests as rebels 

King and Ficklen, History of Alabama, 121-128; Martin, History of 
Louisiana, II. Ch. I. ; and Cliampigny's "Memoir," in French, Histori- 
cal Collections of Louisiana, V. 191-233. 



33g THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

and traitors, and gave orders to the guards for their im- 
prisonment. Twelve men, in all, were arrested. In a few 
days the trials began. Two of the prisoners were released 
on the ground that at the time of the conspiracy they held 
commissions under the French government and were 
therefore accountable for their deeds only to that govern- 
ment. The other ten attempted no defence. They 
refused to recognize the lawful jurisdiction of the tribunal 
before which they were arraigned, claiming that as they 
were French citizens at the time when the alleged mis- 
demeanor was committed they should be tried, if at all, 
only in French courts. The Spanish officers refused 
absolutely to admit their plea, and three days after the 
arrest O'Reilly was ready to pronounce sentence. ^ Five 
of the conspirators, including Lafreniere and Noyan de 
Bienville, were condemned to be hanged ; one was to be 
imprisoned for life, two were to be imprisoned for 
twelve years, and three for six years. One of the 
twelve, Villiere, had already been killed by his prison 
guards. The property of all was confiscated for the 
benefit of the king's treasury. Every appeal of the 
citizens in behalf of the condemned men was received by 
O'Reilly with cold courtesy, but with absolutely no favor. 
On the 25th of October the sentence was carried into 
effect in the barracks yard. In the presence of several 
Spanish officers and soldiers the five who had been con- 
demned to death by hanging were shot instead, for the 
lack of an official hangman. 

1 Champigny gives a good account of the arrest and trial of the unfor- 
tunate Frenchmen, French, Ilistoricnl CoUections of Louisiana, V. 194- 
21G. The sentence of O'Reilly's court, Ibid., 210-212, note. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1TG3 339 

By this tragedy the worst fears of the people of the 
colony were confirmed. The suave, affable O'Reilly was 
after all but a kind of gracious-appearing fiend who might 
be expected to wreak his vengeance upon any one at any 
hour. Not only liorror for what had happened, but dire 
terror of what was likely to follow, everywhere prevailed. 
No one felt safe, business was almost wholly suspended, 
and the citizens were almost afraid to speak to each other 
lest they be accused of plotting insurrection. The city 
lay helpless in the hands of the soldiery, by whom it was 
guarded at every point of possible outbreak. It was only 
by slow degrees that the people recovered from the blow 
and turned sorrowfully again to their wonted occupations. 
Even to this day the 25tli of October, 1769, is remembered 
by the Creole population of the South as the darkest ever 
experienced by the city of New Orleans. The heroic 
devotion of the Louisianians to their mother country, and 
the cruel fate to which they were so heartlessly abandoned, 
inspired the keen-tongued Vergennes at a later time to 
address King Louis with cutting sarcasm : " All, Sire ! 
perhaps the names of these five unfortunate Frenchmen 
who were executed never came to the ears of your 
Majesty ; deign to throw a few flowers on their tomb ; 
deign to say, ' Lafreniere, Noyan, Caresse, Villere, Marquis, 
and Milhet, were massacred by the orders of barbarous 
O'Reilly for having regretted leaving my service and for 
having wished to sustain my laws.' " 

In the following vigorous passage Francois -Xavier 
Martin, one of Louisiana's earliest and best historians, has 
pronounced upon O'Reilly's execution of the Frenchmen 
a judgment which still stands without manifest need of 



340 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

revision: "Posterity, the judge of men in power, will 
doom this act to public execration. No necessity de- 
manded, no policy justified it. Ulloa's conduct had pro- 
voked the measures to which the inhabitants had resorted. 
During nearly two years he had haunted the province as 
a phantom of dubious authority. The efforts of the colo- 
nists to prevent the transfer of their natal soil to a foreign 
prince originated in their attachment to their own, and 
the Catholic king ought to have beheld in their conduct 
a pledge of their future devotion to himself. They had 
but lately seen their country severed, and a part of it 
added to the dominion of Great Britain ; they had be- 
wailed their separation from their friends and kindred; 
and were afterwards to be alienated, without their consent, 
and subjected to a foreign yoke. If the indiscretion of a 
few of them needed an apology, the common misfortune 
afforded it." ^ 

To his government O'Reilly justified his course on the 
ground that the disaffected state of the colony called for 
some such severe exercise of discipline. He even urged 
that by terrifying the inhabitants into submission he was 
performing an act of mercy, since he might thereby dis- 
courage them from emulating the example, and ultimately 
incurring the fate, of those recently put to death. If his 
purpose was to reduce the colony to abject submission, he 
had undeniably succeeded. Henceforth the people endured 
their wrongs in silence. Sadly but unresistingly they saw 
the Spanish yoke fastened upon them. The Superior 
Council was swept away, and in its stead was established 
a " cabildo," with all the accompanying offices and insti- 
1 Martin, IIisto7-y of Louisiana, II. 7-8. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 341 

tutions characteristic of Spanish administration. ^ The 
Spanish language was made the official medium of com- 
munication, and even the Ursuline nuns were compelled 
to use it in their devotions. The judicial system was 
reconstructed, and in fact every phase of governmental 
activity and public life underwent change. The province 
of Louisiana was destined to be handed back and forth 
among the nations yet several times before it should find 
its permanent place under the flag of the United States, 
but on no similar occasion was there as complete and 
speedy a revolution in the political and administrative 
system as now. 

Notwithstanding acts of ferocity which cannot be ex- 
cused on any ground, O'Reilly gave the colony a fairly 
good government. He never ceased to be extremely 
unpopular, and between his people and the Creoles only 
the scantiest social relations were maintained. Never- 
theless, the new governor studied the interests of Louisi- 
ana and in many ways advanced her material prosperity. 
Especially were the finances of the colony benefited. 
Emigration from Spain set in, and there was a consid- 
erable increase of population. At the end of a year and 
three months O'Reilly fell into disgrace with the Jiome 
government and was removed from his office. Don* Luis 
de Unzaga became the successor in August, 1770. By 
this time the affairs of the province had become quite 

1 For the political and administrative features of the new Spanish sys- 
tem, see the "Ordinances and Instructions of Don Alexander O'Reilly " 
under date of November 25, 17G0, in French, Historical Collections of 
Louisiana, V. 254-208; for the judicial system, "Instructions as to tlie 
Manner of instituting Suits, Civil and Criminal, and of pronouncing 
Judgments in General," ibid., 269-288. 



342 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

well adjusted to the new regime, and for some years its 
people enjoyed a much-needed era of quiet prosperity. 

Meanwhile England's acquisition of the eastern half of 
the Mississippi Valley had inaugurated a new epoch in 
the westward advance of the seaboard population. Pos- 
session, hitherto uncertain by reason of French counter- 
claims, was now entirely secure. In 1769 Daniel Boone, 
with five companions, passed through Cumberland Gap 
and opened up the way to the blue grass region of Ken- 
tucky. The adventures of Boone were so characteristic 
of English pioneering in the West during the decade 
preceding the Revolution that it may be of interest to 
quote from what purports to be an autobiographical jour- 
nal kept by this most interesting of all explorers in the 
lands on the further Ohio. " It was on the first of May, 
in the year 1769," he tells us, "that I resigned my domes- 
tic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable 
habitation on the Yadkin River in North Carolina, to 
wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of 
the country of Kentucke, in company with John Finley, 
John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William 
Cool. We proceeded successfully, and after a long and 
fatiguing journey through a mountainous wilderness, in 
a westward direction, on the seventh day of June follow- 
ing, we found ourselves on Red-River, where John Finley 
had formerly been trading with the Indians, and, from 
the top of an eminence, saw with pleasure the beautiful 
level of Kentucke. ... In this forest, the habitation of 
beasts of every kind natural to America, we practised 
hunting with great success until the twenty-second day 
of December followinsf. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 343 

" This day [December 22] John Stewart and I had a 
})leasing ramble, but fortune changed the scene in the 
close of it. . . . In the decline of the day, near Ken- 
tucke River, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a 
number of Indians rushed out of a thick cane-brake upon 
us, and made us prisoners. The time of our sorrow was 
now arrived, and the scene fully opened. The Indians 
plundered us of what we had, and kept us in confinement 
seven days, treating us with common savage usage. 
During this time we discovered no uneasiness or desire 
to escape, which made them less suspicious of us ; but in 
the dead of night, as we lay in a thick cane-brake by 
a large fire, when sleep had locked up their senses, my 
situation not disposing me for rest, I touched my com- 
panion and gently awoke him. We improved this favour- 
able opportunity, and departed, leaving them to take 
their rest, and speedily directed our course towards our 
old camp, but found it plundered, and the company dis- 
persed and gone home. About this time my brother, 
Squire Boon, with another adventurer, who came to ex- 
plore the country shortly after us, was wandering through 
the forest, determined to find me, if possible, and acci- 
dentally found our camp. . . . We were then in a dan- 
gerous, helpless situation, exposed daily to perils and 
death amongst savages and wild beasts, not a white man 
in the country but ourselves. 

" We continued not in a state of indolence, but hunted 
every day, and prepared a little cottage to defend us 
from the winter storms. We remained there undisturbed 
during the winter ; and on the first day of May, 1770, 
my brother returned home to the settlement by himself. 



344 THE OrENlNG OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

for a new recruit of horses and ammunition, leaving me by 
myself, without bread, salt or sugar, without company of 
my fellow-creatures, or even a horse or dog. I confess I 
never before was under greater necessity of exercising 
philosophy and fortitude. . . . Thus, through an unin- 
terrupted scene of sylvan pleasures, I spent the time until 
the 27th day of July following, when my brother, to my 
great felicity, met me, according to appointment, at our 
old camp. Shortly after, we left this place, not thinking 
it safe to stay there longer, and proceeded to Cumberland 
River, reconnoitring that part of the country until March, 
1771, and giving names to the different waters. Soon 
after, I returned home to my family with a determination 
to bring them as soon as possible to live in Kentucke, 
which I esteemed a second paradise, at the risk of my life 
and fortune. I returned safe to my old habitation, and 
found my family in happy circumstances. I sold my 
farm on the Yadkin, and what goods we could not carry 
with us ; and on the twenty-fifth day of September, 1773, 
bade a farewell to our friends, and proceeded on our 
journey to Kentucke, in company with five families more, 
and forty men that joined us in Powel's Valley, which is 
one hundred and fifty miles from the now settled parts of 
Kentucke."! 

1 While the substance of this narrative is undoubtedly Boone's, its lit- 
erary form was given it by John Filson, a Pennsylvania school-teacher and 
surveyor who settled in Kentucky just after the Revolution. The book in 
which the account appears is known as Filson's Discovery, Settlement, 
and Present State of Kentucke [Wilmington, 1784]. The above quotation 
is taken from a revised edition of 1793, pp. 324-362 passim. It is re- 
printed in Hart, American History Told hy Contemporaries, II. 383-385. 
On the career of Boone, see Thwaites, Daniel Boone ; Emenson Hough, 
The Way to the West, and the Lives of Three Early Americans [Boone, 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 345 

In the autumn of 1770, about the time tliat Boone and 
his five comrades were exploring the region of the river 
Cumberland, Washington, with Croghan as a guide, and 
accompanied by a surveyor named Crawford, made his 
way down the Ohio to the mouth of the Kanawha, ob- 
serving most carefully all the resources and possibilities 
of the country brought under view.^ More and more was 
he becoming interested in the exploitation of the fine 
western lands which had been won in 1763. Unlike 
Boone, the McAfee brothers, Simon Kenton, and the many 
other daring men who were now pressing rapidly into the 
wilderness, Washington was a man of strong home attach- 
ments, and there is no reason to think that he ever 
contemplated migration beyond the Alleghanies. But, 
though his great field of labor lay distinctly in the ex- 
treme East, no American statesman of the early period, 
except perhaps Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, 
served the true interests of the back country nearly so 
well, or used his unreserved influence half so intelligently 
to foster English expansion beyond the Alleghany barrier. 

Close in the wake of the explorers and surveyors came 



Crockett, and Carson] ; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, I. Ch. VI. ; 
Winsor, The Westward Movement, Ch. IV. ; N. S. Shaler, Kentucky, Ch. 
VI. ; John P. Hale, "Daniel Boone," in the Southern Historical 3Iaga- 
zine, I. 205-222 ; Cecil B. Hartley, Life and Times of Boone ; J. H. 
Perkins, " Pioneers of Kentucky," in the North American lieview, Janu- 
ary, 1846; J. M. Peck, Daniel Boone [Sparks's Library of American 
Biography, XIII.] ; and Timothy Flint, Daniel Boone. See William H. 
Miner's Contrihntion toward a Bibliography of Writings concerning 
Daniel Boone, published by the Dibdin Club, New York, 1901. 

1 See C. W. Butterfield (ed.). The Washington-Crawford Letters con- 
cerning Western Lands. An extract from the journal of the tour to the 
Ohio in 1770 is printed in the Old South Leaflets, No. XLI. 



346 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the settlers. A hardy, dauntless race of men they were, 
and such, indeed, they needed to be, — " men," as Mr. 
Hosmer has well written, "of sinews of iron and invin- 
cible spirits, matching the Indians in forest prowess, 
becoming sometimes as cruel, but constituting the effec- 
tive cutting edge with which the wilderness was to be 
cleft and cleared." ^ Indians were to be fought and 
driven from their lands, forests were to be hewn down, 
homes were to be established, and the rudimentary func- 
tions of society developed. Government, too, was to be 
provided for; and in 1772, on the banks of the Watauga, 
a tributary of the Tennessee, was framed the first written 
constitution drawn up in the Mississippi Valley. The 
Watauga settlers occupied a tract of land which had been 
yielded to them by the friendly Cherokees. The leading 
spirits of the colony were James Robertson, a Scotch- 
Irishman (as were very many of these early pioneers of 
the West), and John Sevier, a Huguenot of gentlemanly 
birth. Robertson was illiterate, lentil his wife taught 
him to read and write, but Sevier had a good education, 
and was a friend and correspondent of no less important 
personages than Franklin and Madison. Both Robertson 
and Sevier had the one sort of ability absolutely indispen- 
sable to men in their positions — they knew how to pre- 
serve peace with the Indians as long as it was possible, and 
when it became impossible, they knew equally well how 
to make every iota of the fighting force of the settlers 
count for success. The Watauga constitution provided for 
an elective legislature which met at Robertson's cabin on 
an island in the Watauga River. It provided, too, that 
1 James K. Hosmer, Short Ilistorn of the 3Iississippi Valley, 65. 



vm ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 347 

this legislature should choose a committee of five men, 
including Robertson and Sevier, to exercise a variety of 
delegated judicial and executive powers. There was a 
clerk to keep records and a sheriff to serve warrants and 
make arrests. The duties of all these functionaries were 
carefully and simply prescribed, with a view purely to 
practical efficiency. The constitution continued in force 
six years. At the end of that time the state of North 
Carolina, by virtue of her claim to the Watauga territory, 
dissolved the independent Watauga government and set 
up in its stead a dependency known as Washington County. 
In effect the change was hardly noticeable for many years, 
even the board of five executors being a long time continued 
as before. Such events as the forming of the Watauga 
Association by the voluntary consent of a group of Ten- 
nessee pioneers, cast for the time being upon their own 
resources, testify in a striking manner to the deep-rooted 
political instinct of the Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish 
peoples, and likewise to their peculiar fitness for the estab- 
lishing of civilization in the wilderness places of the earth. ^ 
In 1114: there came on what was generally known in 
the West as Lord Dunmore's war, a conflict which, though 

1 On the Watauga settlement, see Winsor, T7ie Westioaixl Movement, 
Ch. VI. ; Roosevelt, Tlie Winning of the West, I. 170-103; G. C. Broad- 
head, " Settlements West of the AUeghanies prior to 1770," m the Maga- 
zine of American History, XXIX. 332-337; F. J. Turner, "Western 
State-Making in the Revolutionary Era," in the American Historical 
Review, I. 76-78 ; Ilosuier, Short History of the Mississippi Valley, 68- 
09 ; John Hayvyood, Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee, 
Ch. II. ; J. G. M. Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eigh- 
teenth Century, Ch. II. ; C. L. Hunter, Sketches of Western North 
Carolina [Raleigh, 1877] ; and James Phelan, History of Tennessee, 
Ch. III. 



348 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

begun ostensibly in the interest of the settlers in the Ohio 
country, was so conducted that it had not a little to do 
with determining the hostility of the western Indians 
toward the colonists in the forthcoming Revolution. 
The trouble had its origin in the jealousies of certain 
eastern states, especially Pennsylvania and Virginia, re- 
garding the possession of domains in the West and the 
control of lines of communication with them. The point 
most hotly contested by the rival colonies was old Fort 
Duquesne, now known as Pittsburg, at the head of the 
Ohio.^ In 177-1 the place was held by the Virginians, 
though Pennsylvania roundly contended that it and all 
the neighboring country was justly hers. In 1767 a 
company promoted by Sir William Johnson of New York, 
Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, the latter's son. 
Governor Franklin of New Jersey, and Thomas Walpole, 
a London banker, had been organized to obtain control of 
the territory lying between the Alleghanies and the Ohio 
with the ultimate purpose of establishing a settlement. 
The king and Lord Hillsborough, head of the Board of 
Trade and Plantations, had objected to the scheme on the 
ground that such an enterprise would attract too many 
people from Ireland, entail new expenses on the crown, 
and constitute a departure from the favorite policy of 
discouraging colonization beyond the Alleghanies. ^ After 

1 On this controversy, see James Tilghman, " Thoughts on the Situation 
of the Inhabitants on the Frontier," in the Pennsylvania Magazine of 
History, X. 31G ; Daniel Agnew, History of the Eegion of Pennsylvania 
North of the Ohio and West of the Allegheny River [Pliiladelphia, 1887] ; 
and William P. Palmer, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, I. 375. 

2 Sparks, Franklin's Writings, IV. 236, 303, and 324, and Writings of 
Washington, II. 483. See George H. Alden, Neiv Governments West of 
the Alleghanies before 1780 [Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin], 
Ch. II. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 349 

the conclusion of the treaty of Fort Stimwix, however, 
and the consequent pushing back of the Indian frontier 
from the Alleghanies to the Ohio, the government was 
finally brought to the point of making the desired con- 
cession, which was done, August 14, 1772. The Walpole 
Grant, as it was called, resulted in no settlement, but it 
aroused no little anxiety on part of the royal governor 
of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, who saw in it an attempt 
to carve a new province out of the territory claimed 
to be within his own jurisdiction. At Pittsburg feeling 
was so bitter that the Pennsylvanians and Virginians 
were on the point of plunging into civil war. To a 
man as intensely partisan to Virginia's interests as was 
Dunmore, the necessity for action was obvious. Be- 
sides being jealous, however, Dunmore was shrewd and 
diplomatic. Instead of striking directly at the en- 
croachments of the northern colonists upon the Ohio, 
he cast about for a less audacious but equally effec- 
tive method of attaining his ends. It was not necessary 
to search far. For some years the Virginia settlers in the 
West had been clamoring for aid against the Indians. 
Pittsburg was an obvious base of operations for the entire 
Oliio Valley, and Dunmore quickly framed the policy of 
making it the headquarters and starting-point of a large 
expedition for the reduction of the western Indians to 
submission. If he could achieve the brilliant success in 
this campaign for whicli he hoped, the very use of Pitts- 
burg as its base would go far toward determining the 
English government to look with favor upon tlie Vir- 
ginian claim. Moreover, such a campaign miglit still 
furtlier ingratiate its leader and participants with the 



350 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

government, if perchance it should have any tendency to 
divert the thought of the colonists from their grievances 
against the mother country and put a check upon their 
growing talk of resistance. 

The story of Lord Dunmore's war cannot be told in 
detail here.^ It contains some of the darkest and most 
grewsome pages in all the history of the American fron- 
tier. The immediate pretext upon which it was begun 
was an attack by some Cherokees, in April, 1774, upon 
three rangers employed by an obscure backwoods trader 
by the name of Butler. Dr. John Connall}^ the repre- 
sentative of Lord Dunmore, at once ordered all the fron- 
tiersmen to prepare for a war of extermination. Captain 
Michael Cresap, son of a bushranger friend of Washing- 
ton, and leader of a considerable band of explorers on the 
Ohio, stirred up bad blood in a most reckless manner by 
killing two" Shawnee agents of Butler, and then making 
his way to the camp of Logan, an influential Iroquois ally 
of the English, with the evident intention of attacking it. 
Though the latter plan was abandoned, it was not long 
until another party of twenty men, led by a certain 
Greathouse, murdered ten Indians, including a number 
of Logan's relatives, and war broke upon the frontier 
without further delay. Pennsylvania coolly held aloof, 
while Virginia was forced to bear the brunt of it all. 

1 For accounts of Lord Dunmore's war, see Wiiisor, The Westvjard 
3fovement, Ch. V. ; Moore, The Northxoest under Three Flags, 185-194 
Caleb Atwater, History of Ohio, 110-125 ; Roosevelt, TTie Winning of the 
West, I. 211-239; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI. 707-715 
Monette, History of the Ilississippi Valley, I. 3(58-385 ; Charles Whittle 
sey, Discourse relating to the Expedition of Dunmore [Cleveland, 1842] 
and the American Archives, 4th Series, I. passim. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 351 

The main incident of the campaign which ensued was 
the exceedingly destructive battle fought October 10 by 
one of Dunmore's armies, commanded by General Andrew 
Lewis, and the Indians, led by the Shawnee chief, Corn- 
stalk, at Pleasant Point, at the junction of the Kanawha 
with the Ohio. The forces engaged were about equal — 
eleven hundred to the side — and the result was indeci- 
sive. The Indians withdrew from the conflict, but only 
by reason of their characteristic policy of saving their 
men in preference even to winning a pronounced victory, 
if costly. After the battle a council was held for the 
purpose of concluding peace. The Iroquois Logan flatly 
refused to take any part in the proceedings, and when 
specially summoned by Dunmore, sent the following strik- 
ing reply, described by one writer as the greatest of 
Indian prose elegies : ^ " I appeal to any white man to say 
if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him 
not meat, if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed 
him not. During the course of the last long and bloody 
war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for 
peace. Such was my love for the whites that my coun- 
trymen pointed as they passed, and said, ' Logan is the 
friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived 
with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, 
last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all 
the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and 
children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins 
of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. 
I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully 
glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the 
1 Moore, Tlie Xorthweat under Tlirep. Flags, 191, 



352 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

beams of peace ; but do not harbor a thought that mine is 
the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn 
on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for 
Logan ? Not one ! " ^ 

Nevertheless, Logan as well as Cornstalk gave consent 
to the terms of peace arranged by the majority of the 
council, and the conflict was at an end. Dunmore re- 
turned to Virginia, making it appear at least that he had 
won all the laurels that could be obtained in a frontier 
war. But the almost immediate outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion precluded the realizing of any of his deep-laid plans 
regarding the Ohio country ; and in truth it was not 
long until the doughty British governor became so 
obnoxious to the belligerent colonists that he was uncere- 
moniously expelled from the commonwealth. 

By the year 1775, when war began between England 
and her American colonies, conditions on the frontier 
had become, if anything, more confused than ever before. 
The conclusion of Lord Dunmore's war was followed 
by a considerable increase in migration to the West, 
the most notable incident of which was the founding of 
the colony of Transylvania in Kentucky. Early in 1775, 
Colonel Richard Henderson, by the treaty of Watauga, 
acquired from the Cherokee Indians for a consideration 
of £10,000 in goods, a fine tract of land between the 

1 This message is given in Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia 
[London, 1787], 105, and in Moore, The Northwest under Tliree Flags, 
191. It is now understood that Cresap was not directly responsible for 
the death of Logan's relatives, but Logan himself evidently thought he 
was. See Brantz Mayer, "Logan the Indian and Cresap the Pioneer," 
Maryland Historical Society Publications for 1857, and O'Callaghan, Neio 
York Colonial Documents, VIII. 459-177. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 353 

Kentucky and Cumberland rivers.^ Though the Chero- 
kee chieftain declared the territory to be very " dark 
and bloody ground," certain to bring disaster to its in- 
habitants, Henderson was quite undaunted. Daniel 
Boone, who had been employed in the negotiation of the 
cession, was despatched with thirty men "to mark out 
a road in the best passage from the settlement through 
the wilderness to Kentucke,"^ the result being the clear- 
ing of the so-called Boone's, or Wilderness, Road. In 
a short time four new settlements were made — Boones- 
borough at a salt lick on the south side of the Kentucky 
River, April 1,^ and Shortly after it Harrodsburg, Boiling 
Springs, and Logan's Station. As described by Mr. 
Hosmer, these posts were "-in each case a little group 
of cabins under the shelter of a blockhouse. Rows of 
palisades sometimes connected house with house about a 
square, so that all were enclosed, each door opening upon 
a central space, a little stronghold which it was quite 
certain would need to be defended."* A government 

1 William P. Palmer (ed.), Calendar of Virginia State Papers, I. 282- 
287. 

2 John Filson, The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Ken- 
tucke (ed. 1793), 335. See Thomas Speed, " Wilderness Road, a Descrip- 
tion of the Route of Travel by which the Pioneers and First Settlers First 
came to Kentucky," in the publications of the Filson Club of Louisville, 
No. II. 

* See James T. Moorehead, Address in Commemoration of the First 
Settlement at Bonnesboronc/h [Frankfort, 1840], with illustrations, and 
George W. Ranck, " Boonesborough ; its Founding, Pioneer Struggles, 
Indian Experiences, Transylvania Days, and Revolutionary Annals," in 
the Filson Club Publications, No. XVI. 

* James K. Hosmer, Shoi't History of the Mississippi Valley, 72. On 
the Transylvania colony, see Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, I. 248- 
267 ; F. J. Turner, " Western State-Making in the Revolutionary Era," 

2a 



354 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

was set up on a plan quite similar to that of Watauga, 
with courts, laws, a militia, and executive and judicial 
officers. But like Watauga, the little commonwealth 
of Transylvania was doomed to a very brief independent 
existence. The land on which it was located was a part 
of the vast western claims of Virginia, and in 1778 the 
authority of that state formally annulled the Transylvania 
constitution and substituted for it a dependent relation 
similar to that which North Carolina in the same year 
imposed upon Watauga. There was this difference, how- 
ever, that while Watauga desired continued autonomy, 
or in lieu of that, annexation to • Virginia, the Tran- 
sylvanians, through their agents, Gabriel John Jones 
and George Rogers Clark, actively sought the extension 
of Virginian authority over them as a measure of defence 
against the treacherous Cherokees. From Transylvania 
was created the new county of Kentucky, and through 
her able governor, Patrick Henry, the successor of Dun- 
more, Virginia engaged herself to do all that the exi- 
gencies of the war with the British would allow to foster 
and protect so promising a stronghold of her interests 
in the West. 

Meanwhile the course of the Revolutionary War was 
gravely influencing conditions on the frontiers. Though 
population there was sparse, there were representatives of 
all the important factors in the great contest — British 
soldiers holding the posts like Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 

in the American Historical Beview, I. 77-82 ; George W. Ranck, " Boones- 
borough," in the Filson Clttb Publications, No. XVI.; George H. Alden, 
Nero Governments West of the AUeghanies before 1780, Ch. IV. ; Ramsey, 
Annals of Tennessee, Chs. II. and III.; and Winsor, TJie Westtcard Move- 
ment, 97-100. For official documents pertaining to Transylvania, see 
Palmer, Calendar uf Virginia State Papers, I. 30-1-311. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 355 

Vincennes, and Detroit, which had been obtained from 
the French in 17G3 ; American immigrants from Virginia 
and the Carolinas, mostly hostile to the British and ready 
to take sides with the seaboard states against them ; and, 
finally, the French habitans, who had preferred to remain 
on English soil after 1763 rather than remove to the 
western bank of the Mississippi. The number of these 
peoples is very uncertain, but it is estimated that at the 
beginning of 1775 there were about three hundred whites 
in Kentucky, with probably as many more in Tennessee. 
Exclusive of Spanish New Orleans, there were probably 
not more than twenty-five hundred French east of the 
Mississippi. By this time the Indians had come to under- 
stand that it was not the English government and its 
agents, but the restless people of the eastern colonies, that 
were responsible for the great encroachments of the past 
decade upon the liunting-grounds of the West ; and there- 
fore from the earliest intimation of war between the 
British and the colonists, the native population, almost 
without exception, avowed its sympathy with the cause of 
the former. From 1775 on, the Indians became increas- 
ingly hostile, and massacres and raids occurred with dis- 
tressing frequency. 

It was in this phase of the western situation that George 
Rogers Clark, one of the most active men of the time, saw 
the necessity of a great campaign in Indiana and Illinois, 
for the double purpose of stripping the British of their 
Indian allies and suppleiuenting in a very real manner the 
larger efforts which were being made in the East. Clark 
was a Virginian who had figured in Lord Dunmore's war, 
and in 1776 had settled in the Transylvania colony in 



356 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Kentucky. He, with Gabriel Jones, had been elected to 
the Virginia legislature to represent Transylvania and, 
though not allowed to vote in the body, had been able, 
against the wish of Colonel Henderson, but in accord with 
the desires of his other constituents, to secure the organi- 
zation of Kentucky as a county of Virginia. This service 
was rendered in the year 1777. When Clark returned to 
the West, he found that the Indian problem had recently 
been greatly aggravated. British agents had set them- 
selves deliberately to stir the natives to outbreaks against 
the frontiersmen, and to reward them with presents in 
proportion to the number of scalps they were successful 
in securing. Governor Henry Hamilton, in command at 
Detroit, had already won the epithet " hair-buyer " by 
reason of his complicity with the Indians in their scalping 
raids, and other agents of the British at Kaskaskia, Vin- 
cennes, and Cahokia — not necessarily cruel men in them- 
selves, but acting under orders from above — had gained 
an almost equally dubious reputation. Throughout the 
whole country, from the Lakes to Tennessee, there was a 
veritable reign of terror. Most of the French, and even a 
few of the English-speaking pioneers, were constrained to 
save themselves by taking the British side, in the case of 
the P'rench there being the further consideration that the 
liberties extended to them by the Quebec Act of 1774 had 
much influence to reconcile them to the existing regime. ^ 
For the most part it was a war to the death between the 
Indians under British incitement on the one hand, and the 

1 Victor C. Coffin, "The Quebec Act and the American Kevohition," 
in the Amiual Report of the American Historical Association for 1S94, 
273-281, 



vm ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 357 

settled white population on the other. Until Clark came for- 
^vard with his audacious enterprise, the settlers were acting 
wholly on the defensive. From his station at the Falls of 
the Ohio (modern Louisville), however, Clark studied the 
situation with characteristic sagacity, and arrived speedily 
at the conclusion that as long as the British continued to 
hold the Northwest posts, they would be able to keep up 
a continuous frontier war, which at the rate things were 
going would eventually mean the utter ruin of the western 
settlements. Learning through spies that the French were 
growing weary of the struggle and lukewarm toward the 
British, a plan of action began to take tangible form. 

Hastening again to the Virginia capital, in December, 
1777, Clark presented to his friend, Governor Henry, a 
definite scheme for the conquest of the Northwest, to be 
undertaken with such western troops as could be raised 
for the purpose, but expected to be successful in the end 
more by reason of the defection of the French from the 
British cause than on account of any actual military 
achievement. Clark's proposal was submitted at an 
opportune time. Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga had 
occurred less than three months before, and throughout 
the East there was a feeling that ultimate success in the 
war was now well within the bounds of reasonable hope. 
Already Congress had begun to consider the necessity of 
taking possession of the Northwest. Governor Henry and 
the Executive Council were easily persuaded of the feasi- 
bility of Clark's plan, ancl on January 2, 1778, two sets of 
instructions were issued, one, for public use, authorizing 
the ambitious young colonel to raise seven companies of 
fifty men each for militia service in Kentucky, the other, 



358 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSlPi'I chap. 

private, directing him to make use of this force in an 
expedition for the capture of Kaskaskia.^ Troops were 
to be recruited west of the Blue Ridge, and the comman- 
dant at Pittsburg was ordered to supply boats and ammu- 
nition. A grant of £1200 in the depreciated Continental 
currency was secured for the launching of the enterprise, 
and Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and George Wythe 
pledged themselves to use their influence to secure a 
bounty of three hundred acres of land for each soldier in 
Clark's army, provided the attack upon Kaskaskia proved 
successful. 

The next problem was to secure the troops for the cam- 
paign. This was not so easy as might be supposed. 
Almost none could be obtained at Pittsburg. Agents 
were sent out into various parts of the trans-Alleghany 
country, but the enemies of Clark, of whom there seem to 
have been not a few, did what they could to discourage 
people from enlisting, and by the most persistent efforts 
only about two hundred men could be gathered together. 
However, as Clark was advancing down the Ohio with 
these, there came the news of the French alliance — a turn 
of fortune no less favorable to the Virginian's designs in 
the West than to the general cause of the new nation in 
the East. The habitans, already wavering in their alle- 
giance to the British, would now be all the more ready to 
ally themselves with the Americans, and thus a new and 
most valuable source of strength in the Mississippi Valley 

1 Governor Henry's public and private instructions are given in full in 
Clark, Campaign in the. Illinois, 95-97, an edition of Clark's letter to 
George Mason. They are quoted in W. H. English, The Conquest of the 
Northwest, I. 92-104. 



viii ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 359 

would be obtained. The real object of Clark's expedition 
was not revealed to the soldiers until the falls of the Ohio 
had been reached. When it became understood that the 
plan was to attack Kaskaskia, there was a good deal of 
murmuring, and several Tennesseeans attempted to escape 
service in such a prolonged and hazardous expedition by 
running away in the night. Some were captured and 
brought back, others made good their defection ; but 
thereafter such discipline was enforced that there was no 
opportunity for desertion. 

June 24, 1778, Clark left his blockhouse at the Falls 
with a force variously estimated at from 150 to 200 men.i 

1 By far the most important sources of information on Clark's Illinois 
campaign of 1778-1779 are the various letters and narratives written from 
time to time by the leader. These are : (1) a letter to the governor of 
Virginia, April 29, 1779, on the capture of Vincennes (in Jefferson's 
Works, Washington's ed., I. 222-22(5) ; (2) a letter to George Mason, 
November 19, 1779, printed in the Ohio Valley Series, No. III. [Cincinnati, 
1869] ; (3) a " Memoir," composed at the request of Jefferson and Madi- 
son, many years after the campaign, printed (with omissions) in Dillon, 
History of Indiana, 127-184 ; and (4) a journal, dated at Vincennes, 
February 24, 1779, printed from the Canadian Archives at Ottawa in the 
American Historical Beview, I. 91-96, and (in part) in Hart, Amei-ican 
History Told by Contemporaries, II. 579-582. All of these accounts, 
written by Clark, are conveniently included in W. II. English, The Con- 
quest of the Xorthioest, Vol. I. Appendix. One other important original 
authority is the report of Governor Hamilton to General Haldimand, July 
6, 1781, printed from the Canadian Archives in the Michigan Historical 
and Pioneer Collections, IX. 489-516. Important general accounts are 
Winsor, The Westward Movement, Chs. VIII. -XI. ; Thwaites, Hoio George 
liogers Clark icon the Northioest ; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, 
II. Chs. II. and III.; \V. H. English, Conquest of the Country Northwest 
of the Ohio, Vols. I. and II. ; Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana, Ch. IV. ; Winsor, 
Narrative and Critical History, VI. 716-742; Hinsdale, Old Northtcest, 
Ch. X. ; "Colonel George Rogers Clark's Sketches of his Campaign in 
the Illinois in 1778-1779," in the Ohio Valley Historical Series, No. Ill ; 
Hosmer, Short History of the Mississippi , Valley, 80-95; W. H. Smith, 



360 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The Ohio was descended to the mouth of the Tennessee, 
and then, rather than run the risk of betraying his pur- 
poses by appearing on the Mississippi, the wily commander 
started to lead his troops north through the present state 
of Illinois by an overland route. The journey was long, 
but, the season being favorable, not exhausting, and from 
being lukewarm, the men became quite ardent in their 
devotion to the enterprise. The Kaskaskia River, three 
miles from the fort, was reached July 4, and both the fort 
and town were quickly taken possession of without oppo- 
sition. ^ The British were not numerous enough to make 
any resistance, it never having occurred to any of their 
authorities that such an expedition as that of Clark could 
possibly be made, or was in any danger of being attempted. 
The fort was in command of a creole by the name of 
Rocheblane, who, though faithful to his trust, was quite 
unable to cope with the audacious presumption by which 
Clark disarmed opposition. At first the French popula- 
tion was much alarmed for its safety, but Clark speedily 
announced that there was absolutely no danger, the ex- 
pedition having been avowedly intended to relieve the 
Creoles as well as the Americans from the rule of the 
obnoxious British. Father Gibault, the priest, was as- 
sured that the Catholic religion would not suffer under 
the new regime, whereupon he induced the people gener- 
ally to submit, and the latter proceeded to give expression 

History of Indiana., I. Ch. IV. ; Mann Butler, History of Kentucky, Chs. 
III.-V. ; and John Reynolds, The Pioneer History of Illinois, Ch. IV". 

1 There is a plan of "Cascaskies" (Kaskaskia) in Winsor, Narrative 
and Critical History, VI. 717. It is reduced from a plate in Philip 
Pittman, Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi 
[London, 1770]. , 



nil ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 361 

to their joy, in the words of Clark, by " addorning the 
streets with flowers and pavilians of different colours, 
compleating their happiness by singing, etc."^ In their 
enthusiasm the jubilant Frenchmen volunteered to bear 
the ofood news of their relief from British rule to the 
neighboring town of Cahokia, and within a short time 
this place also was in the possession of the Americans. 
The Illinois country had been conquered without the 
shedding of a drop of blood. 

But one important stronghold in the Northwest, aside 
from Detroit, remained to be secured. That was Vin- 
cennes. Again the French came forward with offers of 
assistance, which were the more acceptable because Clark's 
force was small, and he could not be assured that the 
Indians might not at any time be incited by British agents 
to cut him off from his military base. Father Gibault 
declared his willingness to undertake a mission to the 
post on the Wabash for the purpose of converting its 
inhabitants to the new regime, and the offer was gladly 
accepted. Vincennes, like Kaskaskia and Cahokia, had 
been intrusted by the British to creole agents, and the 
latter were easily influenced to cast aside the obligations 
of their position. Gibault argued eloquently against the 
subservience of the French to the British, especially in 
view of the recent alliance of France with the United 
States, and before two days had elapsed Vincennes was 
added to the growing number of American posts in 
the West. There was no garrison to offer resistance, 
and the people simply gathered in the village church and 
took the oath of their new allegiance. The astonished 
1 Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana, 185. 



362 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Indians were given to understand that their former great 
Father, the king of France, had returned to life, and that 
only a prompt compliance with his wishes could save them 
from the wrath he felt at their having given aid to the 
despised British. 

Throughout the remainder of 1778 Clark stayed at 
Kaskaskia, giving his attention to the organization of 
the conquered territory. Captain Williams was placed in 
command of the Kaskaskia fort. Captain Bowman was 
stationed at Cahokia. Captain Helm was given the man- 
agement of Vincennes and the Wabash country. Colonel 
Linn was sent to build a post on the present site of Louis- 
ville.^ The term for which his men had enlisted being at 
an end, Clark recruited new companies from his Virginia 
veterans and the Creoles, who were attracted by his prom- 
ises of rewards. Strict discipline was enforced, and the 
new army acquired an efficiency superior even to that of 
the old one. Li recognition of all these services, Virginia 
proceeded to create the new County of Illinois, embracing 
all her territorial claims west and north of the Ohio, and 
to set up in this important portion of the Far West the 
earliest form of American civil government. ^ 

Meanwhile, a determined effort was being planned for 
the undoing of Clark's audacious work. Late in 1778 
Governor Hamilton, who had been greatly surprised but 
not in the least daunted by the fall of the Indiana and 
Illinois posts, set out from Detroit by way of the Maumee 

1 Benjamin Casseday, Louisville [Louisville, 1852]. 

2 Carl E.Boyd, "The County of Illinois," in the American Histori- 
cal Review, IV. 623-685, and W. H. English, The Conquest of the North- 
west, I. Ch. IX. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 17G3 303 

portage with a force of thirty-six British regulars, fifty 
Creoles, and about four hundred Indians, with the purpose 
of retaking Vincennes, and if all Avent well, Kaskaskia 
and Cahokia also. The primary aim of the ^pedition 
was accomplished with ease. The Vincennes fort was 
found to be defended by Captain Helm and just one other 
man, the French having deserted their new masters as 
readily as they had been persuaded a few months before 
to fraternize with them. Helm was captured December 
17, and once more Vincennes was British. ^ An expedi- 
tion sent out in the direction of Kaskaskia to capture 
Clark failed, but the Creoles of Illinois were thrown into 
a panic by the fear of future vengeance at British hands, 
and for a time it seemed that all the efforts of Clark and 
his Virginians would prove to have been entirely for 
naught. 

January 29, 1779, while Clark was still at Kaskaskia in 
harassing uncertainty as to the movements of the enemy, 
he was greatly relieved by the unexpected appearance of 
Colonel Francis Vigo, a Sardinian by birth, who had long 
been engaged in trade among the Mississippi towns, and 
who, at his own suggestion, had been sent to Vincennes to 
report from time to time upon the conditions prevailing at 
the place. On the way thither he had been captured by 
Indians and carried before Hamilton, who had kept him 
in prison, so that nothing had been heard of him for sev- 
eral weeks. Largely through the intervention of Father 
Gibault, however, he managed to secure a release, and 
sought tlie earliest opportunity to present himself at Kas- 
kaskia and inform Clark that Hamilton's garrison num- 
1 W. H. English, The Conquest of the Northwest, I. Ch. VIII. 



3G4 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

bered but eighty, and that the earlier an attack upon it 
was made the better the chance of success, as no one could 
tell how soon it would be strengthened by reenforcements, 
which wai'e expected to arrive for the conquest of Illinois 
the following summer. Clark was a leader of indomitable 
resolution, and his men by this time had the utmost faith 
in him. Had it been otherwise, the campaign which was 
now planned and executed to the minutest detail would 
not have been possible. Though the winter season was at 
its worst, Clark resolved to make an immediate expedition 
against Vincennes and take the garrison of the place at 
unawares. February 4 a boat known as the Willing, car- 
rying six guns, was placed under command of Lieutenant 
Rogers and ordered to advance to within ten leagues of 
the Wabash post. The following day, with a band of 170 
men, Clark set out upon the toilsome march of more than 
200 miles across the water-soaked prairies of southern Illi- 
nois. Ten days brought the expedition to the " drowned 
lands " of the Wabash, which are described by Mr. Hos- 
mer as " a tract low and flat, which, as the snow melted in 
the breaking up of winter, had become transformed into 
shallow lakes, stretching sometimes for miles, with only 
here and there a protruding patch of earth." ^ Progress 
through such a country was of course extremely slow and 
perilous. The men were under the necessity of marching 
for hours in freezing water up to their Avaists, and some- 
times to their shoulders. Nights had to be spent where 
there was no opportunity to secure warmth and sleep, 
cook food, or dry frozen clothing. The men kept at their 
uncomfortable task bravely, however, and at last, on the 
1 Hosmer, Short History of the Mississippi Valley, 90. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 365 

23rd of February, by a final supreme effort which carried 
them across the four miles of the Horseshoe Plain, breast- 
deep in water, they arrived upon high ground on the out- 
skirts of Vincennes. Here Clark addressed his followers, 
complimenting them upon their loyalty, and everything 
was done to provide food and warmth for those whose 
sufferings had been greatest. 

From Creoles taken captive it was learned that Clark's 
approach was utterly unexpected by the British and that 
the French in the village were willing enough to go back 
to their American allegiance, if only they be given ample 
protection. Without loss of time one of the captives was 
sent to warn the Creoles that an " army " was about to 
besiege the town, and that safety could be obtained only 
by remaining carefully within doors. By skilfully using 
flags and banners and marching and countermarching his 
men, Clark made it appear that his forces were several 
times more numerous than the}^ really were. He was well 
aware that the fort must be taken more by braggadocio 
than anything else, and in that he was an adept. As soon 
as Hamilton became aware of his danger he sent out a 
party to reconnoitre, but the floods compelled it to turn 
back. The fickle French went over to the American side 
in a body, and the British found it useless to offer much 
resistance. An effort was made to defend the fort, — 
Sackville, the British called it, — but the marksmanship 
of the frontier sharp-shooters was of such a quality that 
Hamilton and his men soon came to the conclusion that it 
was inexpedient to continue the fight. Hamilton proposed 
a surrender on condition that the British troops be allowed 
to go to Pensacola on parole, but Clark insisted upon a 



366 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

surrender unconditionally, and there was nothing left for 
the defender of Fort Sackville but to comply. Hamilton 
and twenty-five of his best men were sent as prisoners 
to Virginia, while the remaining captives, after taking 
an oath of neutrality, were set at liberty, March 16. 
Hamilton Avas subsequently released at the suggestion 
of Washington.^ 

This second capture of Vincennes was by far the most 
memorable incident in the hazardous process by which, 
during the years 1778 and 1779, the great Northwest was 
secured for the Americans. It was followed in good time 
by the quelling of the Indian allies of the British, the 
defeat of the reenforcements on their way from Detroit 
for the conquest of Illinois, and the establishing of per- 
manent control by the state of Virginia and ultimately by 
the government of the United States. Hostilities on the 
frontier were by no means at an end, but hereafter the 
trend was decidedly against the British. Vincennes was 
no sooner taken than Clark began to consider the feasi- 
bility of an expedition against Detroit, tlie real British 
capital and stronghold in the Northwest. Fort Sackville 
became Fort Patrick Henry, Captain Helm was placed in 
charge of affairs on the Wabash, and Clark embarked on 

1 Writings of Washington., VI. .317, 407, and Moore, The Xorthwest 
under TJiree Flags, 237. On Clark's notable capture of Vincennes, see 
Dunn, Indiana, 138-151 ; W. H. Smith, History of Indiana, I. Ch. IV. ; 
John B. Dillon, History of Indiana, Chs. XII.-XV. ; Law, History of 
Vincennes; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, II. Chs. II. and III. ; 
E. A. Bryan, " Indiana's First Settlement ; Clark's Important Conquest 
of Post Vincennes," in the Magazine of American History, XXI. 38(3- 
403 ; W. H. English, The Conquest of the Northwest, I. Chs. X. and XI. ; 
and Governor Hamilton's report to General Haldiinaiul in the Michigan 
Historical and Pioneer Collections, IX. 489-51(1. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 367 

the Willing for Kaskaskia. The conquest of Detroit had 
to be postponed, however, and it was in fact destined 
never to be accomplished by the victor of the Wabash and 
the Illinois. That important post was one of those which 
remained in British hands until after the close of the war. 
Instead of carrying his conquests farther, for the present 
Clark was employed by Thomas Jefiferson, now governor of 
Virginia, in the establishment of a fort on the Mississippi 
below the mouth of the Ohio with the purpose of clinching 
the hold of the Americans upon the great river and ensur- 
ing the freedom of its navigation as against the French 
and Spanish, who might some day be enemies even as they 
now were friends. On a tract of ground purchased of the 
Cherokees, as near the mouth of the Ohio as the character 
of the country would permit, was forthwith constructed a 
well-built and fully equipped outpost of American author- 
ity, receiving as its name that of Virginia's far-seeing and 
statesmanlike governor. 

While all these things were occurring in the North there 
were also developments on the Gulf which were of vast 
importance, if not in determining the outcome of the 
American struggle for independence, at least in fixing 
the conditions upon which peace would be concluded at 
the end of the war. In 1777 Don Bernardo de Galvez, a 
brilliant 3'oung officer whose father was viceroy of Mexico 
and president of the Council of the Indies, became the 
governor of Louisiana. Like his predecessor, Unzaga, 
Galvez was an enlightened administrator, careful always 
to promote the interests of his people, and especially vigil- 
ant to reconcile the French population of the province to 
the rule of the Spaniard. It was just at the time when the 



368 THE OPENING OE THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

American Revolution was well under way that Galvez 
became Louisiana's governor, and his martial disposition 
made it inevitable that he should be strongly inclined to 
have a share in the movement against the common British 
foe. As early as December 30, 1776, the Continental Con- 
gress had passed a resolution to the effect that a treaty 
ought to be negotiated with Spain, and that if the Span- 
iards could be induced to join in the war against Great 
Britain, the United States would declare her readiness to 
aid them in recovering possession of the important harbor 
of Pensacola, provided the inhabitants of the United States 
should have the free navigation of the Mississippi and the 
use of the Pensacola harbor. ^ It was not until June 16, 
1779, however, — more than a year after the French 
alliance, — that Spain could be brought to the point of 
declaring war against the British, and then the step was 
taken solely because the British cause appeared to be 
weakening and the Spaniards believed the opportunity 
to be at hand to repossess themselves of parts of the 
old colonial empire which had been lost to England in 
1763. The terms of the Family Compact bound the 
Spaniards to take up any war in which the French be- 
came involved, but this consideration had small weight 
in determining the Spanish policy. ^ The greatest loss 

^ Secret Jotirnals of Congress, II. 40. 

2 For a year and a half the French foreign minister, Vergennes, had 
been urging tlie Spanisli secretary, Florida Blanca, to join with the 
Americans against the British, but it was not until April 12, 1779, that a 
treaty was concluded between the two Bourbon powers with a view to 
that end. In the treaty it was specified that the Spanish objects in en- 
tering the war were to regain Gibraltar, to acquire the river and fort of 
Mobile, Pensacola, and all the coast of Florida along the Bahama Channel, 
the expulsion of the English from the Bay of Honduras, and the resti- 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 309 

suffered by Spain by the treaty of Paris had been the 
Floridas, exchanged with the British for Havana, and 
the hope was now strong for their recovery. It was 
possible, too, that the Floridas thus to be regained might 
be much more extensive than the provinces yielded in 
1763. The Spaniards had once used the name " Florida "' 
to describe the entire region between the Gulf and the 
Ohio, and by the pursuit of a sufficiently vigorous diplo- 
matic and military policy it was thought that this great 
territory might once more come to be recognized as 
appurtenant to the flag of Castile. 

As soon as Governor Galvez became aware that a state 
of open hostilities existed between the Spanish and the 
British, and that two months after the declaration of 
war the king of Spain had authorized his subjects in 
the Indies to take part in it, he began active prepara- 
tions to drive the enemy from all the region about the 
Gulf. A military force of fourteen hundred men, com- 
posed of local militia, Indians, negroes, and American 
volunteers, was raised in New Orleans and drilled for 
the service. The two-year war in the South which fol- 
lowed resolves itself into a series of three campaigns, 
which can be but summarized here. The first of these, 
in 1779, was against the British posts on the lower 
Mississippi. The most important place reduced was 

tution of the island of Minorca. The allied powers promised not to lay 
down their arms without having at least obtained Gibraltar for Spain and 
Dunkirk for France, or, in default of this, some other acquisition at the 
option of Spain. The treaty was not made known to the Americans. Its 
text is believed never to have been printed in English, except an abstract 
in the Sparks Mss., No. XCII., in the Harvard College Library. A Span- 
ish version of it is in Del Cantillo Tratados de Pan [Madrid, 1843], 552. 



370 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Fort Bute which had been built at Bayou Manshac, 
the southernmost station belonging to England, lying 
on the river. Baton Rouge was also taken, as well 
as Fort Panmure on the site of old Fort Rosalie, or 
modern Natchez. Three other smaller garrisons near 
Baton Rouge were likewise compelled to surrender. The 
second of Galvez's campaigns, in 1780, was against Fort 
Charlotte and the settlement at Mobile. Two thousand 
troops were embarked at the Balize, and though badly 
storm-tossed on the passage, succeeded in landing at an 
advantageous position, and quickly effecting a conquest of 
the entire Mobile district. ^ The third and most impor- 
tant of the campaigns for driving the British from Florida 
was directed against Pensacola. Galvez recognized that 
this post would be able to offer resistance very different 
from that which he had hitherto met, and therefore made 
preparations accordingly. The captain-general of Cuba 
promised reenforcements, and when they failed to arrive 
Galvez went to the island in person to secure them. The 
first armament with which he started to return was broken 
up by a hurricane, but with indomitable perseverance he 
returned to Havana and equipped a new one. From Cuba 
he sailed directly to Pensacola with fourteen hundred 
troops. A landing was effected on the island of St. Rosa, 
and a battery was constructed to protect the frigates and 
transports while crossing the bar into the Gulf. The town 
was deserted by the British, who took refuge in the neigh- 

1 For an excellent account of this campaign, see Hamilton, Colonial 
Mobile, Ch. XXXI. Other discussions of Galvez's conquests in Florida 
are in Martin, History of Louisiana, II. Ch. III., and Gayarre, History 
of Louisiana, III. Ch. III. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANllSIl NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 371 

boring fort and there endeavored to make effective resist- 
ance. The storming of the stronghold by the Spaniards 
was probably the severest military operation of the sort 
which had ever occurred on the Gulf shore. The siege con- 
tinued for a month, and the outcome was by no means 
certain, until an accident occurred which turned the tide 
of victory. This was the explosion of the English powder 
magazine by which a breach was opened in the wall and 
the valiant defenders compelled to run up the flag of truce. 
As a result of the capitulation which ensued, not only 
Pensacola, but also all West Florida, was definitely sur- 
rendered to Spain. This was in May, 1781, and, though 
the war was still in progress on the Atlantic seaboard, 
nothing really remained for Galvez to do in the South. 
By a series of the most brilliant successes he had expelled 
tlie British and reestablished Spanish supremacy all along 
the Gulf coast, precisely as the king and ministry had 
desired. The young general's services were highly ap- 
preciated at Madrid, and as an evidence thereof he was 
honored with the Cross of the Royal Order of Charles III., 
the title of Count, promotion to lieutenant-general in the 
army, and captain-general of Florida and Louisiana.^ 
Within a few weeks after the fall of Pensacola he went 
to Havana to take command of a Spanish attack on 
Jamaica, while the government at New Orleans was left 
with Don Estevan Miro, a colonel of the Spanish regiment 
of Louisiana. 

In connection with the conquest of Florida it should be 
noted that the Spaniards, during the Revolution, engaged 
also in a remarkable campaign far to the north. In the 
^King and Ficklcn, History of Louisiana, 133. 



372 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

winter of 1780-1781 the commandant at St. Louis sent out 
an expedition to capture British posts in northern Indiana 
and southern Michigan, with the undoubted object of win- 
ning a Spanish title to the Great Lake region, as was being 
done at the same time in the lower Mississippi Valley. 
Fort St. Joseph, located on the river of that name, was 
taken by storm, its garrison compelled to surrender, and 
its colors carried away as a trophy of victory. ^ Possession 
of the countr}^ was formally proclaimed in the name of the 
Spanish king, though no serious effort seems to have been 
made to prevent the British at Detroit from regaining the 
captured post. This movement in behalf of Spanish sov- 
ereignty in the American interior was the more audacious 
because of the fact that more than a year before it was 
made, George Rogers Clark had won the whole intervening- 
Illinois country for Virginia. 

The successes of Galvez in his Florida campaigns pre- 
saged that when the time came to conclude a general peace, 
Spain would be found possessed of all the territory east of 
the Mississippi which she had lost in 1763, if not consider- 
ably more. For it was well understood that, though the 
conquest of the Floridas was a severe blow to British inter- 
ests in America, the Spaniards were not guided by motives 
any more charitable toward the United States than the 
reestablishing of their own supremacy on the Gulf shore. 
The truth is that the Americans were pretty generally dis- 
pleased with the results of Galvez's operations, for by them 
the British garrisons taken at Pensacola and other points 
were left free to join Cornwallis's army in Virginia, and so 

1 Edward G. Mason, " The March of the Spaniards across Illinois," in 
the Magazine of American History, XV. 457-470. 



'9LI ^'PPU '^8il '9 ■^■i^njqaj 'ss9aguo3 jo iiiapisajj aq^ oi X-Bf g 

•Q9X '7)?Qi 'l8il 'Sl •laqtnaoad 'sui-epv c) ^'Ef j 

■ "fSI '11 '^^^Z" wyo/' >b suDdaj oiiqnd puv aoii3puodsauj.oQ ^ 

g^/Xi3pp JO lua^SiCs aip gnui^uoo O!} :^uamaAuoo ^i punoj svq 
.T9:^suiiui oq'; „ 'X.Timjqa^ Suiavo{{oj gq:^ ss9jSuo[) jo ^iiap 
-Tsa.ij aq^ o:^ in^?Si? q^^ojai 9q ^/i^'Bp siq^ ojl,, g^/pouiAip 
9q ^jouii'BO 9S1390 |jTAV (^T u9qAV pui? „ 'gx J8qin909Q 'sumpy 
OJ XV£ 9:^0JA\. ^/IU9JS.^S 9q:^ U99q Suo]^ si3q pu^3 st ^Ci^pQ „ 
•sq^uom 99.iq:^ uviy\ 9.ioai .loj Ai9TAJ9:}ui we 9di?0S9 o; ])dSv. 
-ireiu iC.ii3^9.T09s i^c^nclgp 9q^ 'ss9iq{i jo 139101 'g no '^g'Bj uj '^^^^ 
ii9AtS n99q '^qA p'eq uot!:^'bt:^oS9U 9q^ .loj siioi^on.i'^sin on ^in|) 
pgiiiJOjiiT 9q 0'; /{uo 'odui'BQ pQ pgqo'BOjdd'B inf Quip .t9;ji; 
9iUTj^ -pug u^^ o% qiumo sj9^;'Bra 9i9q^ ^nq 'pg^^nioddij ^vw. 
'■riuviQ JO X.TTj^jgjogs pucjiigpijiioo gq^ 'odiinj^ |9q •j,\[ s.^tjp 
j\ jj u iqq^T^V *As9C'i!j\[ oiioq^-BQ siq jo gpis 9q; no uoicfiq; 
-o^9ii gq:^ gj^'B^jgpuu o:^ pg^'BuSisgp gq pjnoAV uosjgd v 9un:^ 
gnp in '^'uqj Suisuuo.id pin? 'iinid gq-^ jo :^digo9J gq; SinSpg 
-pvvou:y[0'B '130111313 iq5T.iO{^q^ 1110.1J g^oii jgi.iq 13 jo c^iio^xg Qiy^ 
o-]. pgziuSoogj 9J9AV sgoni3Api3 gsgqx *gsop pijssgooiis v. o; 
ai3AV gq; SinSiiuiq ui ini3d§ rao.ij pii3 ^I3.i9qq ;soui gq; iigAg 
A(\ gun; gq; joj Xjiio pg;i3sii9draoo gq pynoo qoiqAV S9oq 
-1.1013S — J8JJ0 siq; in Sin:>^i3m suav sg;i3;s p9;ni£[ gq; qoiT[Av 
S9oqT.ioi3S gq; uodn pn3{ si?av ss9j;s qonj\[ -iioissgoiioo 
13 qons gj^uoi o; pgsodsip gsiAi iCii'B in sg;i3;g pg;niQ aq; 
piiq o; 'goi?gd jo iioi;i3Jo;sg.i gq; jg;jB ';ogdxg ;oii pggu gqs 
'iddississij\[ gq; jo iioT;sgnI) gi[; g]^;;9S o; iC;uin;.ioddo ;ii9 
-sg.id gq; jo gS'B;ui3Api3 g^p?; o; pg;og|Sgu iii'Bdg ji ;i3q; Sin 
-11.113AV 13 ;u9M ;ogCqns siq; uo ^'Bsodojd gq; q;iAV i ^/"'k^oo 
gq; o; iiAVop — S9;i3;g P^')]"!! ^^l'^ S9Ai3g| ;t g.igqAV 
;inod gq; luo.ij 'si ;i3q; — 9pn;i;i3^ q;joii jo ^XS ^H^ ^"o.ij 
iddississip\[ .I9AI.I gq; jo iioi;i3SiAi3ii gq; 'gsn o; ;dai9;;i3 

•dVHO IJJISSISSIW I'lIlX dO ONliVaJO :>IIIX 88S 



'16 '"PVll 'l8il '8 J8qo;o() 'ss8.iSuoo jo juapisajj 9\\% 0% Km^ ^ 

JO 'asn O'). j'uaqjoj 9jn:^nj ui pu-B 'i!^S8['Bj\r oi{01[^'bq siq 
o^ T:{smbuipj „ p^noqs S8!;'«^g pe^iuQ aq^ '\'b\\% pgpiAo.id 
qoiqAv JO L[;xTS gq^ 'itc^iaa.^ i? jo sis-eq aq^ si? siioptsodojd 
ui«:|j9o spuyq s^ja^siuuu qsiiredg 9q'; ui pao^qd pT?q iC'Bf 
g^ jaquiQ^dag Jo 9c^l3p jopuQ g^/ooixaj^ jo jpir) 9qc^ p 
uot^^jSia'bu 9Aisupx9 9q^ ss9SSod pi^noqs 9qs ^-eq^ Xai3ss909u 
^T p9J9pu9i 'uiiidg JO uoi^T3uuuj9^9p pu'B iCoqod jy|noi;a«d 
9i\'\. sv {{9AV St} 'suot:;'bu .i9q^o pire uiiidg u99A\j9q Sui:;sis 
-qns S9i';i?9.i'j aq-^ ^i^q^ ^nq 'p9A0iu9.i -^iiiod siqj 110 saijpio 
-lyip WQ 99S o^ p9JiS9p X|^S9nj'B9 9q „ '^Mxi']. Aiddi gpuui A!|iio 
p.iiqni?dg AixAX qiw 'iddissTssij\[ 9q:^ jo uoi'J'bStauu aq^ joj 
uoi;ii9jiioo 9q^ uopui^qu 0% '■A^isnQOdu jo 98130 lu 'pazijoq;; 
-xxv si3A\ 9q ^'Bq^ "BOinqg ^PIJOL>I p9uiJ0jLiT Av£ iiaqAV u9Ag; 
•p9uod:)Sod gq oj p9Uuijuoo 's^x9;9id snoij-BA uo 'uoiji^tj 
-oSau 9qj X8iT '^^^^ ^M^ J^ J9pui^LU9.[ di\% :;noqSno.Tqx 

^ ^/X|Sinpjoooi3 J9q p9ji;9.ij piiiJ 'jauoi^i^ad 13 sij i30T.i9uiy 
japisiioD o:; ui!S9q uit'dg 'sjopo Suo.i^s jCjaA ui iCauoui jo 
!^in3A\ JO J ss9j:^sip Jiaqj pgcuqud pt'q spun; snoiA9jd ^noq^iAv 
S[{iq SuTA\.i?jp ifq ssaaSuoQ si? puij 'uoi^sanb ^i^qj uo sg^-eq 
-9p JO sjunoooii 9Aiss90ons iCq gAqi? i^dajj pui3 pg^ioxg 9J9a^ 
ssajSuoQ JO uoundo aqj ui gSut^qo 1? jo S9doq jgq si? ^iiq 
' ^jod 99JJ 13 JO 'Xauoiu £q ji 9Si3qojnd o:j p9JOAi39pu9 aAi3q 
pinoAV UTi3dg 'a]qi300Aajji :ju]od (^uqj japisuoo o;; paji39ddi3 
pui3 'tddississTi,\[ aq'j (;noqi3 suoi^sanb \\vi papioAi? ;C|;ui3;s 
-uoo pi5q ssajSuoQ ajaq ara Suipuas Jajji3 ji ^i3q^ „ 'X8iX 
'g jaqoc^oQ 'ssajSuoQ ja (;u9pisajj aq:; o:; Xi3f acjojAV ^/uoi 
-uido Ava uaaq X|iujojiun si3q ^j „ •pauiSi3iuT aq i{psi3a iCi3ui 
9ji3ijoSau o^ ssauSui||iAv .naq^ uodn ^oajja aq:^ pui3 'uopsanb 
TddTSSTSSTj\[ aq'; uo 9pn;i;;i3 s;i ui Suui9qi39A\ si3av ssgjSuoQ 

:88 89il lI3XwtV SHOaHOiaK HSINVdS QNV HSITOMa "ia 



90U9piiods9d.toQ -xgAT '8 JaqoioQ 'ssaaSuoo jo luapisaaj aq; o^ Jiv£ ^ 

JO GJi^AVB j];8saiiq s^av 9i{ oaopq pupi3i\[ piii? S9||i^sja^ 
!;y sapj'BcI snouTJA jfq p9AT909.i U99q p^q '9[dun?x9 joj 
'iddississij\[ 9q'; jo uoic^'^SiAfu 9q^ PI8I^ o^ suoTCjonj^jsiit 
gq; JO suop'Buipiij 'SsgjSuoQ pui? miq u99M^9q pgssi^d 
qoiqAV 90ii9puods9.i.ioo 9q^ ui S9rjTJ'B|nS9J.Ti J9q:^o pui3 
s.t'upp Ac[ pgAouiiiJ qonui ii99q pi^q Ayi£ •pg^'BOSijuoo SQ\qv 
-n\VA J9q;o si? |{9av si? oi^i?mo|dip Ji9q:^ pu'B pgjn^d'BO Siiigq 

Al^^ll'B^^SUOO 9J9A\ SlIOT';onj:^SUI pu'B SJgd-ed SuiiC.I.I'BO S[9SS9^ 

•snopji^zt;q i!|Suip990X9 s-bav '9';i3^s jo sj9^:^i?ui ut ^{{^p 
-9ds9 'iiL'900 9qj ssojoi? uop'BOiunttimoo SiC^p 9Soq^ uj 'pgg 
-T|draTS qoniu U99q gA'Viq p^noAV iu9|qojd 9q^ 'j9:;^'Bra 9|oqAV 
9q^ Snip.ii?S9J i{:j9ixiii? ss9| iiAioi(S p^q ssgjSuo^ ji '\m\'\ 

p9A9q9q X'Bf 'imS I 9'Jl?T';oS9U iCqAV 'OS 9Ap09JJ9 II0ISS9S 

-sod c^t'q:^ 9:j[iuu o% J!^'\]\](\'^ p9;qnopun J9q ui ^uiod J9q'^o gq^ 
puB 'uoiss9ssod .i9q jo ^oi?j 9qc^ ui Ji\v\ gq; jo s:}uiod giiiu 
pnq 9qs '^'Bi\'\ pgigpTSuoo iii'edg •i{p;^n|osq'B oiyi?.!^ j9at.i gq'; 
{o.i^Hioo o:^ sii'BgpQ a\9^ c^v uopisod ■b ui gjgAV qsitii^dg 
gq'; gsiTBogq 'su'BOT.iguiy gq^ o:^ ugdo :^ou S'Bav iddississij\[ 
gqcj sgsod.nid |'BOTC)OKid w^ .lo^^j -mgq^ "[gdgj o% pjo^i? X|isT?g 
pi^oo qsun;d§ gqc^ pu'B 'gpis ui?OTjgray gq-; mo.ij guioo o'^ 
\>v.i\ sgouL'Ap'B gqj^ "^i Suip.n^Sgj Sui^BpoSgn jo X^TSsgogu 
ou jgpun s'BAi un?d§ 'xioissgssod jgq ui Xi^-BU^ot? iddississij^r 
gq^ JO gsjnoo jgA\o{ gq:j Suta'BJJ 'srajgc^ vCu'b uo sg^B^jg 
pg:}iU|q gT[j q;iAv iC^i^g.i; 'b Qy[\iui 0% pgsodsip ssg^ pu'B ssg| 
GUi'Bogq '^.inoo qsui'Bdg gqc^ uo ^ugA\ gun; si? .loj 'gmi?o .igAgu 
pgjugj Av.£ qoiqAv %9Q'\ Suissi?jaBqui9 siqj^ ^ ^ \{oi?ui:^sqo Am 
A(\ ']so\ p'Bq sg^'B^g pg:;uiQ gq-j sgi'^iun^^.ioddo ugppS pui? 
sgqddns qoi.i :;i?qAV pg.igdsiqAV gq uoos ppoAV ;i„ 'iC;i?g.q 

■''^»" IcIJISSISSIW aHX dO 0NIN3J0 aHX 988 



'IZ "11 '/i»y uriof j'o sMdoj; ouQnj puv 
90udpuodsdMOQ 'ISLI 'SS VA'^y 'ssaaSuoQ jo ^uapisajj b-{\% o% A'S£ ^ 

■B ^9S o:^ psU'sj pii8 Qil^ u] pill? \)\Q]^ 0']. pesnjaj gq ji 'pmu{ 
.laq^^o aq!} uq 'paquq iCji'un^O'B ^oii jt 'podnp jo p9U9!;qSiJj 
U99q p^q 9q ^^'Bq-; Av,s p^noAV oqAV 9^do9d 9q pinoM 9a9q^ 
'OS op o:} p9p990o.id pill? '^qSiJ uB0i.T9uiy 8q^ nopu'Bq'B 
o^ iCjiJSSQogu ^T p9in99p 9q jj 'gmoq %'B 9!^nd9JSip SS9{ .10 
9.I01U 0:^111 raiq Sui.iq o<\ chi9A9 idre ui i!|95[T{ svm. AhN 
-TSuodsQj qong •X^'B9.i^ 'e jo Sut2[t?iu qi\']. o^ 9|q'Bsu9dsipui 
S'BAv s^qSiJ iddississij\[ gq:^ jo goqijo'us 9q:j .i9q^9T{AV Suipio 
-9p jo iigp.inq 9.11:^119 ^q:^ raiq nodn iiAio.iq;^ pvq ssgjSuoQ 
^"Bq; pozTuSoogi Am£ •aan^'Bn pnosj9d is jo s-bav Suq99j siqc^ 
joj uos'ogj 9UQ -iddTSSissT]^ 9q^ jo uopi^SiA'BU gq:; PI^I'^ 
o^ lIOTC^onJ:^s^^ 9q^ q^}A\ p9S'B9|dsTp qonra sijav gq 'it^^-egjc^ 
pgjisgp 9q^ jo iioisnpuoo gq-; p.iiuvo:; .oinq;on qsi|diuoooi? 
0% 9{qi3 Suigq '\'e uuS'eqo siq pu'B 'jgAgAioq 'iCo'Brao^dip pnu 
uop'B.i^siiiinqD'B qsiii'Bdg jo uouiido jood s^A'^£ g:;ids9Q 

^ ^/J9Ag^m[A\ mgc^sXs pgxq on p'Rq i^gq; 
(j'Bq!} gjn:^nj in .T'Bgddi; p[noqs ^i ji pgsijdjns gq :^ou pjnoqs 
J quq;; 9{qi?oi{dxgai os gji? 'iioicjijn^is .iigqc^ 0% 9jqi?oi|dd^ 
jfoqod "['Biioi^^Bii JO sgpij r^'Qd.iS gq-j q^iA\ pg.ii3dmoo ugqAV 
'iB-igugS UT (^jRoo siq^^ jo s^uguigAoiu gq^ 'pggpiij 'pgppgp 
-un nrerag.i |p:;s qoiqAi snoi^sgnb gji? '.nuv jo sgi^^^'Bns'BO 
gq^ gS'B^ii'BAp'B aigq^ 0'\ gAoaduiT o^ pgiq'Bug jg^c^gq gq o']. 'sn 
q'^TAV s:;ugragS'BSiig raojj ggjj Sumiii'^uoo Aq 'gsooqo Xgq^ 
j9q;gqA\ jo '(^uiod :^'Bq'^ no ssgjSiio^j jo X^^TJof'Biu gju'^nj v, 
q^iAV sgApsaigq'; jg^^i^y A^^'^ jgq'^gqAV jo 'sgpissgogu jno £q 
Siii^qojd JO uoTC^tijogdxg uv pgjidsui gAijq gui iiodn UAviup 
S{{iq gq^ jaq^gqAV jo ':;iigsgjd ^-q sn q-^m A'\'nQ,i'\ v Suiuipgp 
joj 9Apom ]t'gj Jigq:^ gq siq^ jgq;gq^\ -guq g|ppim Auv. 
0% ug:^sq ';g.^ si3 'i^gq^ ||ia\ joii 'uoi^i^Sta'bii ^-Bq^ Suipgo jno 

588 29LI aaXJV SHOaHOiaK HSINVcES aKV HSnONa i"'^ 



sj,ddvj; oiiqnj pun 90topuodso.uoQ 'xgix 'gg ^ki\[ 'Xuf o; uo^SupuiiH i 

uo %S]sm 0% i(!|snoT0i3incj.T9d sgnupuoo „ '9^ lively 'sa^^iJAi gq 
^/;.moo siqx " "tuaq^ puL'^s.iopira o^ ssgjo.id uqag :^ou pip 
X^f !)T3q; qons 9.iaAi .la^^i^iu Q^oqAV 9^!^ jo S9ioi?OT.TC^in 9i{x 
•pgsocTcIns ss9jSiioq jo s.i9qui9ui gq:^ s'b ^^ i^giioui jo gpi^JiJ 
gq^ ai „ pi'B g^qKigpTSuoo Awe SiuAiS jo :^inod qx\% 0% !^jnoo 
qsiui^dg ^q:^ SuT.iq o; jg^^'Bui v Xs-eg os su'ogui on .Cq gq ppioAV 
%] '\'e\\'\ poo^sjgpiin '^sv.q\ '^v gq '^no qjOAV pjnoAV iCgq:^ Avoq 
qg^ ;oii p|noo gq g^qAV piii^ 'pgAigo.igd Av£ iioi^i?ii^is gq-; 
in sjo^^O'Bj gsgq!^ \[y 'iiggq J9Ag pijq sgic^i.Toq^iii? qspijg 
gq^ uijq^ siioisiig^g.id ujg^sgAv .ngq'; tit gAissg-iSSi? gjoui 
p|Oj Xuiuii g.igA\. Xgq(; ^■eq^ j'egddi; o; SniiunSgq st^av '^i 
goiiis iCpi^inop.iijd 'goiigpugdgpui .iigq^ luvS Xgq^ ^iiq^ (;^13C^ 
-joduii iC^iqogdsg (jou s'qja ^t 'g{qnoJ:^ uw:^T.ig :^'Bgjr) gAiS 
0; cqoAgj Jigq^ ^q gnupnog sut'Oi-Tgiuy gq:^ "^v-v^^ g^quiis 
-gp si?A\ :;t gjiqAi 'pu'B ' 'egs qsiu'edg gjgra v. Siiuuoogq ^si^j 
sv.As. ooTxgj/\[ JO j|n£) gq^ ' TddississTj,\[ gqcj jo uoi:^'bSia'Bu 
gq:^ o^ ^95[ gq'; p^gq gqs ' 'Bpuo|^^{ in snoi.iO'^oiA iiggq 
pnq smj-B jgq jiij snqx 'gsoj o:^ qoniii 'ini^S o^ 81'^^U 
pi?q uiudg goui^qp; mjoijgiuy uij Aq •sg^'B^g pg^uiJl ^'^l^ 
q;TA\ ^iigujggjS'B oyiogds iCiii? o:^ sp.ii?iin3dg gqc^ pinq o; gq 
ppiOAV '^i qngqjip Aioq uoi'^'BA.igsqo luo.ij Avgii^j Av.£ 'Aomn 
-ojdip qsui'L'dg JO sgi^ixg^duiog gq-; jo iiopT^iogaddi? g^unb 
-gpB AuT3 uodn qs9.i :;ou pip 'jgAgAVoq 'goiigpqiioo qong 

jj/jCguoui JO gpi^Ji; gi^; m pi-c 
[Bn^ogjjg pii'B I'Bi'^u'B^sqns giiios lugq; pJOjj'B o:; luiq goupin 
qiAv uoissgo 13 qons Aq sg^'B^g pg'^uifl ^H} Jo "^^vd gq-; uo 
pg^sgjiu'Bui uoi;isodsip Xlipiigijj piiy A";qB.igqq gq; ^-Bq; ;iiq 
'ji^^sgfi?]/^ oqoq^BQ siq q^iAV goiit'i||'B pgsodo.id gq; gpnpiioo 
0; jCi^igp jgqq.mj ;noT{;iAv g^qB gq A' pro ;oii ||iav nOiC ;Bq; 

•"iVHo icidississm 3HJ. JO ONiNaao anx 1^88 



pr.n dondpuodsdMOQ puB '§68~o6fi 11 'ssau/moj fo sinuj^nof jd.i09g ^ 

1:6 1 '/'»/' u^io/' 'Majpd puB 
'.4011 ^L07r90Z 11 '^"Z" tiyo/' fo sdddi^j ^Winj imu doiopuodsd.uoj gag 
■nxx-xix 'dd 'xipueddy 'i '■s.iddoj; vosipvj/\r gq'j lu pg^uijd si iiosipT3j\[ 
A'q uop'BU'Bidxa su\j^ jj'ifpAiioadsea sai's^s qons jo Ajoijjja^ ai\% MOjaq 
s}.iod JO ijod 89JJ B '.I9AII pj'BS uo jCjoiuj8j SuiAT^n saiu^s jaqio JO 'a^'B^s 
i-'UH JO Ji^qaq uo 'ujiJ^qo 01 sjOA^apua Jiain 9sn sa^ijSapp pi'es aqj i^qi 
^p3p)aoUfi •uj'Bdg qiiM ^jBajj v 0% iiiaiuipadmi u'b peuiaap si Qinvs aT\% 
uo Supsisui }i 'papao aq uoi^bSia-bu piBS aqi jo pu'cuiap jaqio Jo jaq^jnj 
j{j8A9 'jijq'j puy 'i^iaAipadsaj qo'eaj sa'j'B'js pres aqi jo suoissassod \mj.o% 
-u.id% aqj su j^pAisua^xa s-b iC^uo j9A]j ^Bq; jo uoji'bSia'bu 99jj gqj uonifi sq? 
ui s9;'Bis jgq^o aqi joj ajnoojd o; paionjisui 9q ss9j§uo3 ui saiBggpp jno 
im\'\ puB 'ifjo'jijja; juo q-jiM 9aisu9ix9-oo s-b ifjao 'biuiSjta -^q pguiiBio 
9q 0^ "jqSno iddississip\[ J8aij aqi jo uop'egiA'BU aq^ 'J'^qx?) = uoijniosgj 

piiij 'p9A0iu9j gq ^[TAV STioT^m^oSaii JuoA o; gp-B^jsqc ^^-BQaS 
9q^ :^'Bq:^ ^jqnop 8|^^n Q^'^n ssqjSiioq uoi^onj:^suT ja'^'^iq siq:^ 
JO :^diaoa.i oq;^ uq „ ri'up o(^ q^ojav 'ssqjSuo^ jo (juapisajj 
'uo'^SiiT'^unjj pmm^g •A%'e9.x% qsui'Bdg "u jo A'qja qiy^ ut 
sappiogLjip n"*^ 0UIO0J9AO gouo ^v pjnoAV ;s9^ gq^ ui s^qSu 
Qiq'Bnp^A JO aoijT.io'BS siq^ :j'Bq:^ Sinpaj {i?j9U9S v ii99q gA-eq 
o^ sm99s 9AQi{% sg^'B'^g p9'^Tiij^ 9qc^ uj ^ ^/iiredg A(\ uodn 
p9C^STSlII i"];q'BJ9c^|'Bun 9q n^'^l^ uoiss90 qoiis pgpiAo.id „ 's^jod 
99JJ JOJ uot;u9!;uoo ^qc^ mojj os|i? ^nq 'cjuq^ iCpio ^ou puv 
'uu-Bio iddississij;\[ 9q!^ raojj 9p909j o^ pgc^onj'^sin svja Av£ 
i9'^%i\ S5^99AV 0A\:^ piiu 'ssg.iSuoQ UT '^'BJ9U9S 9;mb qSnoq; 
(}U'B';on|9J 'JOABJ q^iAV P9AT909J SHAV /oqod V qons 9uii; 
^sjg 9q:; jo^ •s.i9pi3J(j u'boi.i9uiy jo 9sn 9q^ joj pgjnssv 
if|9:|Tuy9p 9q ppioo j9atj 9q^ jo q^^noui 9q^ Ji39U s;jod 
99JJ Xpio jT 'oXg Avopq iddississi]:\[ 9i['; jo uoi'J'bSia'bu 9q; 
p]9iX o^ p9ziJoq:)ni? 9q Av.£ ^iu{^ 'Xiduiis 'shav j'BSodojd 
9qX "pgonpgj U99q pi^q Xj^imoo 9q^ T[OiqAV oc^ i!^Tra9J^X9 
GJip 9q^ iCq pg^iJ-eduiT 90joj Jt!Tpi09d 1? a\ou Sut^Cjj'bo ^nq 
'ss9jSuo3 jo jooy gq^j no a\9u sii\;9iu ou Xc[ '^usodojd v q;iA\ 

S88 C9iT HaJ..^V SHOaHOiaN HSINVdS CINV HSnONS i"A 



SniMonoj aqj Xq \\ias. sii passajdxa ganiTJisiSa^ aqi 8snodso.i uj -ssaaSuoo 
in uoiiisodojd aqi uo a^oA 01 Moq 01 S'b suoponaisui joj a^uis Jiaq^ jo 
auiTBisi§9{ aqi usu oi paaaSiJ 'p9.i9jjip suoiuido asoqAV 'pin^ig pui? uos!p'Bi\[ 
'se^TjSepp .leq ■^^;q■} J8q 01 aouiJiJoduii qons jo aq pinoAV aa^^mu aq'} 'a^^is 
jaqio ifu'B uuq') XjoiiJ.iai lua^saAi aaoui Siuaui] •biuiSjia 'olS A\oiaq iddis 
-sissji^ aqj JO uojiijgiA'Bu aq; o; uiiBio hb jo luauiuopu'eq'B ai-Bipauiuii we 
Jiq apis u'EOKiaiuy aqj 01 ^laiiuyap uom aq iniids I'^m sa^iaSaiap "BuijoaiaQ 
q^nog put; ■BiSjoag aq'j Kq \i%i jo is.ig pasodojd sv.fA 11 "saitiis u.iaqjnog 
asaqj jo siiojijod q°jv\ jo iioissassod ui qsi^iag aq'^ Suu'cai '■sjfspfssod ipi 
JO siSBq aqi uo ap'Btii aq ^{[uappiis iqSuu ao'ead I'eqi j^qiJioadsa paj'eaj pui; 
'qiiiog aqi ui §iu->i'Bra aiaAv qspijg aq^ ssaaSojd aq^ v^ paiuj'Bi'B amuoaq 
'Euqo.i'BQ qinog puiJ 'eiSjoaf) uio.ij sait»gaiap aqi ^Bqi sA-es ajj 'uopsanb 
iddississij^ aqi Suipj'B.oaj \%L\ ^I QSBq jo aSu'Bqo aq'j tiodn iq§n paaisap 
qonin Maaqi aq qoiqAV ui ^Z-Z-9.\ '8 ^J'cnii'Bf \i9isi6aii SjS5/.?^V^ jo .loiipa 
eqi o^ JLd'\']d\ V a^ojM 'sajuSaiap ■biuiSjia 9qi Jo auo 'uos!pHj\[ saiu'BX' i 

p-iiJAXJOj Qiutjo ^'ajn:|'B^STS9| 9:^i^;s Ji9i['; jo suoT:jonj':)sin 8i[; 
japun Siit:;oi3 'i^tutSji^ iuojj lI0T:^l3S^|^p oq'^ '182-1 'l ^^•I'^^'^J 
-qg^vf •9oian||^ jo X;'B9.t^ iCl.i'ca in? .loj Av.a\ aq'^ aT39p os pu)3 
'luiup 9q^ qsinbuipj o^ sv.as. 'g.iojg.igqc^ 'op o^ Siiiq':^ snoiAqo 
9qX •noi^S9nb iddTSSTSSTj\[ 9q:^ uo S9^'b:>§ ps^F^Il '^^^ P 
^pnc^T'^^^} 9q:^ Xq iC||oqAV ^soiiqi? pg^.i'BAvq'; Sin9q svm. 90ui?i^u 
qsiu'cdg aq(^ (^'Rq'^ 'B9pi 9q:^ paXaAuoo iCpi^gp 130111319 'Bpuojj 
q^iAv suopi^iioSou oq:^ jo s:^Jod9J s^Xi^f •sui?9iii o^qissod 
:}S95pmb oq^ Ac[ pii? qons Sinjii09s o'; av9ta u qcjiA^ pjUAV.ioj 
(^qSnojq aq ppioqs suoi^isodo.id ■^i^q; oaojg.iaq^ 9|qi3;TA9ui sl'av 
^j '9811130 iii30TJ9uiy oqcj ocj 0|qi3SU9dsTpin .t9A9 uuq^ 9.Tom 
p9ra99S J9A\od qsiTiijdg 9q^ jo pii? aq*^ '^vx\% qons ouii^ooq .ti3av. 
aq'; JO s9ioii9§TX9 aqc^ X82,I~08il J^ Ja^um aq'; SiiunQ 

•sui.ia; o; PHP^'K J^ ;.inoo 
aq; SinSiiT.iq ui aouangiii ';noq;iAv ;oti oq ppioAV 'padoq 
s-BAv ;t ';oadsoad 13 qoiig ^/ini?;i.ig ;i3ajr) o-; 9atS hta\ ;i 
aSi3;ni3Ap\3 aq-; Xq .T9^ns os|i3 ]^tav jCaq; ;nq 'saApsuiaq'; ;t jo 
'jqgiiaq 9;i?ip9iuuii 9q'j 9S0{ Xpio ;ou {]tav 'sjOA^od auii;uL?HT 
jaq;o aq; -pwB 'ui'edg pu'B aom3j^ij „ asi30 qoTT{A\ in i jo asn 

■•'^"3 IcTdlSSISSIH SHX JO ONTMJI.IO 3TIX ?;88 



"XI xipuaddy "H 'ssfvig P^fuijj 9yt/o UdOisjjj 'uiJi^ij in paiiiiadsj 
s' ?I ■68S~9S8 'II ^ssd.iSuoQ /o sivu.mof iddodf^ q\\% hi si i9'\%9\ aijx z 

■98^-^:^ "I 'l^'i^r tniof'fo sdddvj omM 
puv dou9piiodsd.uoQ puB '9?;8-8S8 '11 'ssduSrtoQ fo simunof tadodg ^ 

9pi3iu 8q p^noAV pii-B ppioo i|^JOii ai[^ o^ a^noj ^q:^ 'sireo 
-uaray aq^ jo Olyl3J:^ q^w ^siit'bS'b iddississij\[ j9A\.0{ ai^; asop 
O!; S'B qsT|ooj: os 9q pjnoqs spji^iiii^dg q\\% ji (^9j^ •9{qBJ9 
-j9jd gppo |]['B ^Cq S'BAV j9m.T0j 9q'; 9S9qc^ jq -raa^sXs 92^'B'^ 

^"Bg-ir) 9q^ o^ S9Sl?q.I0d pill? SJ9AT,I JO iC-BAV R(\ pjlJAVqC^JOII piIIJ 

'iddissTSSi]^ Q\W A'q pj^Avq^nos — 90J9raiuoo :;s«a siq'^ ^{i? .loj 
S9(^no.i 9{qTSSod oa\.^ (^snC 9q p"[noA\ 9J9qx '^loo^s p9:^sn'Bqx9 
^^souqij s^iC'Bp o:^ :^ii9ranS.T'B av9u m pp-B 0% X;iTin:^Joddo ut? 
AM^s 99:^(^111111100 9q^ (^UTod sup :^y ^/nos JT9q:^ jo 9onpoid 
gq'; joj p9Su'Bqox9 9q ul'o ifgq^ ji 'iioi^^jodoid ui gq ^av 
S9in:}0'Bjnu'Bui uSi9joj jo uoT^jdumsuoo .Ti9q:^ 'pu'Bq .i9q';o ^qc^ 
UQ •sgi^^pu'Bnb :^'B9jS in 'oSipui pii'B 90u 'sdi^q-igd 'sc|.ii3d 
u.T9q:^nos aq:^ ui piiu 'xi^y 'draaq 'ooo'eqo:} 'j[.Tod 'j99q 'luoo 
'cji^gqAV gsiiij ^|iav i^9qx •^ngra.^oidmg .ipq^j 9q ni^^ 'sgjn^^oijj 
-nireui :^ou '9jn:^]noTjS'B 's:;u9ni9j(^';9S Avau \\m ut su j9uii'biu 
Q^ni "^I 'S^^utJ^Tqt'qiiT qcjiAV pi39.ids.i9A0 oq i!|in'B';.i90 {{tav 
iCi^iinoo siq:; '90i3{d 9:j[13:^ Ipqs goi^gd jg^^ji] s.i«9iC a\9j X.i9a 13 
uj „ :p9.i'Bp9p 99^:;unuioo 9q:; 'q:^nos 9qi o:^ 2mK\ iCi-ijunoo 
9q:^ pu'B X9nt!^ 0^0 ^^^ JO Sup['B9dg j-iC^iiiSip piiiJ 

JoStA 9jq'B5|.I'BlU9.I q^IAV p9SSnOSip SliA\ '9S.Tn00 9.Ii:^U9 %%\ '\U0 

-qSno.iqc^ TddTssissij\[ 9q:; Sin^i^SiAiJU jo mop99.ij 9q; o^ pun 

'lIll?:)I.TJJ :^'B9.IJr) raOJJ p9.T9nbu00 /.TO-^LLTg:^ II.I9:^S9A\ QIY^ 0% 

suii'Bp U'BOTjaray q\\% jo uopsonb gpi^AV 9qcj qoTqA\ in ^iiaiu 
-noop 9{^'BJoq'B|9 uu UT :^qSnojq '.C'up o:^ suoi^ouj^^sui :^u909.i 
aq;; joj spunoiS q\y\ S[uuitqdx9 'pT.ip'Bj\[ puij 89^1138.19^ 
'\v< 8.i9:^suuiu aq'^ o:^ .i94^9{ a; g-i-edg-id o:^ pg^^inoddi? uaaq pi3q 
qoiqAV 9a:^:}Trauioo ij n jaqo^oQ i ^/pui^ad-iad 9q ppioqs 
'uit'dg JO 8^ {[9AV St' 'i30T.i9uiy JO 9.iisf)p aq-; ST "W qoiqAv 

188 coil H:>IXJV SHOaHDiaK HSINVJS CIKV HSnONS i"-'^ 



'105 "III A 'sdxnjuAi sjiriyuvu^ 
'sJi.i'Bdg puB '22f I '^w/" ^'nor Jo Sdddod ojiqnj puv doudpnods9.uoj ^ 

.{uouT.iiu{ %v,[Y^ JO uoi^dn.i.i9;in Auv uoisuooo ]|iav 'siioTCfisod 
-sip i^ipuaijj Aq ipQ'i'enc^DM 'suoi^uii o.wcj oip p s^jogfqns aq^ 
iq J8AU aq^ p asn ^mi:jnui ajn;nj aq:^ ^t'q^ .ii39j o:j uos'Baj 
on SI 9J9q:^ ';t uiojj p9C||ns9.i SiiiAi?q ^:^ndsIp jo ^intqdiuoo 
JO 9om;;sui on pnij 'iriijdg jo s;o9fqTis 9qc^ qc^iAV iiomuioo in 
'j09J9q; 9sn 99JJ 9q; o^ p9ttio^snoot' U99q SuiA-eq 'uoi;npA9y; 

9q; 90inS piIB UTl^^Tjg ^L'9J£) q^iAV p9C>09lIUO0 9JiqAV 'Sa9Z 

-i;io Jigqj put' 'uoum 9q; in S9:^i3;s |1?j9A9S jo Xnjpimoq aq:^ 
Siiigq iddTSSissii\[ j9Atj 9qx ' * • •p9qsinbinpj 9q o^ 1301 
-J9uiy JO ^j'ed gq'i 110 iioi^Tjjndijs Auv Aq ^ou si 'iiii^dg luo.ij 
pguiL'jqo 9q piiiit'o ^i jo !;ii9iiiSp9^A\oin[ot' ss9adx9 ui? ji 
'^qgi.i qoiqAV i vds 9q^ iiio.ij pin; ojiii iddississij^ .19At.i gq:; 
JO uoi^i?SiA'Bii 99JJ 9q:^ o; t'oi,T9iuy JO S9^ij:^§ pa^infj gq^ 
JO ^qSi.i 9q; Sui^09ds9.i suoi^on.i;sin .t9iiutoj siq o; 9.i9qpu 
aajsiinui 9q;„ !^tu|; papiAo.id suav cji 'goiii^pinS s^Ax>.£ joj 
pg^dopi; siiopoRji^siiT JO Xpoq X.n;^ii9m9|ddn8 t' in 'jgqo^OQ Jo 
q;f 9q:^ no put' 'a9A9Avoq 'p9qot9J U99q ^gX! :}ou pi^q c^uiod 
SuippiX: aqx •uop'ygiA'Bu 99.ij .loj uot!JU9^uoo 9q:^ uopufqi? 
o; 'j9s:nio 9q:; ^t' 98tav ^qSnoq^ pt'q s.i9qiu9ui 91UOS st' '£v.£ 
gupoi-i.i;sui JO ijT|iqi?siApi3 9q^ o; St' ss9.iSuoQ ui uoissnosip 
JO p?AV9U9.i 13 o; p9| 'uoic^saub iddississij^ aq:^ Xq ^.ivd (jsora 
Qi\% Joj p9snt'o iC{qisu9^so 'uoi^jtipSgu 9i[:^ jo At'pp aqj^ 

•Xjp-ioqjTp .oUTpu\]:^s 
-Suo^ 9q^ g^^-^gs oj Xt'Av yC|uo 9qj sm qdopt' oj pgnadiuoo suav 
Jajt't s.it'9.f i{ju9A\^ uosj9jj9f qoiqAV '9St'qojnd X(\ Xsj9A 
-oj;uoo 9[[; Suijsnfpi? jo poq^aiu 9qj paAvop'eqsa.ioj g.iaq 

in|>llIt'.l^Kl l,,M00p C^^9JC^S XlU |^9S O; 9UI >[St' JpAV St' ^T|§IIU 

JoqqSi9u y •s.i9)t'AV sji jo do.ip v ^ps unqj iddississijy- 9q^ 
no jqSi.i .Ti9t[^ JO 9[oqAV gq^ aotid jt'9aS v. '\v J^m^ oj lugqj 

■•^'"^ ijjississm :.iiix jo oxixiido ciiix 08s 



"0811 '9 JaqtnaAO^ jo e^Bp aapun pa'j^iinsu'BJ^ 'sseaSuoo jo juapisaij aq^ 01 
}jod8J SjifoAua aqi sasudiuoo Ji •QSil JO J^inmns oqi Suuinp p!jp'Bi\r ib 
S80U8.I8JUO0 no sa^ou puu aouapuodsauoo SjA'Bf jo iioijoanoo a^q-eniuA XasA 
■^ SI '09T-?II 'AI ^doioptiodsa.uoQ o}pnuo}di(j ddouoijuioaa^i 'uo'jj'bi|a\. 
01 ■S68-?'68 "I ''^^I' uyof fo SMdvj ojiqiifi puo aoudpuodsdMOQ i 

\\%iM. QQjS'e J9L[^i3a pinoAv J 'qoui gq i^iiijs qav A\oiny j si? ;aiC 
'QJ'B 9AV S-B JOOJ •I^UQSa.ld -^M ^^SnSsip 9AlS iCiuo UV,D noT^is 
-odojd iC.i9A QV[} pui? 'u92['B9AV j9^j'B9J9q p|noAi ss9j:^sip qons 
JO SQOU'B^smnojio aq:^ qoiqAV ^ii9ra99jS'B we Aq S90ijuo'bs Sot 
--s['Biu jno uo :^sisaT pu'B 'ss9j;^STp jno jo gS'B^^u'BApu q^iv.^ 0; 
iiv\\% J9SiAi 9q ]|m [qsm-edg di\%^ ^jnoo ^-Bip '(inigpyuoo mv 
pu-B '9doq I ;ng „ : 9:^oim UTi^^u-BJ^tj '^ jgqo^oO 'su-b j .T'ogii 
'i^ss'Bj raoj^ •9aii:^ qij[% jo sj9p'B9^ ii'B0TJ9ttiy JO uoiuido gqi 
i{:^TA\ os\v, put? suoi:^on.T!;snT siq q^iAV pjooo'B ui ^wn} S'bax Av^ 
JO 9ou'BJ9^^n oicj-Bqdrag STqj^ •sjit^jj'b uavo Ji9q^ gS'BU'Biii 0; 
^J^I ^^. ppoqs snoT;'BJ9U9S 9jn!jiij (^■eq:; pit's 'pu'Buigp 1? qons 
9:j'B9J0 o^ ^S9^ 9q:^ UT tioi^'B^ndod ui30i.i9raY ^u9ioiyns ^oii 
S'BAV 9J9q^ c^qA sv. '^'\ii\% p9i|d9J ^{duiTS inI)opj\?j[) siq^ wg oj^ 
j^^'iii'Bdg 0% Axwhu ^noqcuAV (^mp pui? 'gsngdxg piii? 9^qnoj:j 
(j'Bq^ lie m9q'; 9A'bs O'; Snii9^o pun 'sjoop Ji9qc^ 9.ioj9q 
Sumog J9ATJ 9iig V avbs ^^rep -(f9q!; ugqAV 'ijgs 9q!} uiojj 
pui? o:^ 'ss9UJ9p]TAv 9SU9rarai ivs qSnojq:^ piii? suTB^Tinom 
p9SSnj .19 Ao q^oq ^.lodsui?.!^ o^ pgSi^qo 9q .10 'suoponpo-id 
jpq-; JO sn^djTis 9q^ 9so^ pun 's9pTpouniioo uSigjoj ^^noq^^m 

9AT| O^ J9q!;i9 p9Sl|qO SuT9q JO 901^801" 9q^ JO p90UIAlIO0 9q 

jC^ipi^gj :;on p|noA\ s^^ifu^iqi^qin gq^ '^Bq^ piiB '9|c^^9S X^pid^j 
ppiOAV :)! -^iiq^ ' ;i in p9:jS9.i9;ui X|d99p 9.i9a\. 'i30U9uiy in 
90ii9nyui pun iiOT^^oni^sip jo sjgq^^o pun 's.igoijjo iCiiniu ^\VdQ 
-uqS 911% ^nq'^ ' 9|p.i9j pun 9aisu9;x9 snAv Xj^unoo siqc^ -^nq^ 
i Xq n9S gq'^ o^ oS o^ X!j^unoo jgddn 9q^ jo 9|do9d gq;; joj 
XnAvqSiq n j9Atj ^nq^ gpniu pnq X'^qSiraiy pof) ^nq;; p9A9ii; 
-9q 'unui n o; ^soui^n 'sunoiiguiy 9qj '^nq^ ' ui9q^ gAJsisqo 

618 89iT HaJLJV SHOaHOISK HSIKVJS GKV HSIIONa i"-^ 



o; sai;.iiid i{:^oq jo :|S8.i9;iii di\% %] japiwa o;; S'b paui.ioj os gq 
p|noT[S X9i{'; '^ueuuiujad saouT?i|['B J9pu9.i o:j '^''S^'^ jgpisuoo 
pi^noqs iiicdg put? 'spunod puijsnoqc) p9apunq 9uo jo iiiJO]; 
13 joj X;i59.i; V in iior;s9nb ui 9uioo :}ou ppioo -^ogCt^o c^i^q'; 
uiiq p|o; J 'spTi? aoj uop'BJ9pisuoo i^ st' TddissTSSTp\[ 9q^ jo 
noi;i?SiA'BU 9q^ SuTJ9^o Am p9Sodojd j(|p9^iiiod puT3 '^isia 
IS QUI piud ui'ugn mbop.it;£) '[s^ „ '08iX '9178 -laqiug^ldgg 

JO 9)13p J9pim i^'Bf S9;TJAV ^/SuUl9A9 9q^ UJ „ •J9:^STUUII 

iii30TJ9aiy gq; q;iAV SAvgiAjg^ni ]kt9A9S p'Bq iC^io'eduo siq^ ui 
pu'B '9Ar;y;ii9S9jd9ci ^moiyo s^i;DU'B|g S'B X^pniois'BOOo p9^oi? 
oqAV 'o\?q[Tg %'e ra.ii; iCqi^i'ugAV v jo jgqragra i? 'inLop.i'Br) 9p 
oSgiQ iiOQ o; p9SS9.ipp\? '^^q'^ f?i?AV i{s.i9Ao.i:;uoo 9q:^ jo dSv^s 
su\% Siii.inp ^ogfqns 9qc^ iiodn unq Aq u9aiS uoiss9.idx9 
9{qt?5|atJiu9J !^soui gq:^ sdi^qagj '^iigsgadgj o:^ PHPi'H o^ 
^ii9S ii99q pt'q 9q 9{do9d gqc^ jo suii'Bp 9q^ pugpp o:; ss9n 
-;^S9iiJB9 OT;su9:^oi;.i^qo q^iAV pgnupuoo A\i£ 'ss9[9q^.i9A9^ 

I./^Oll JO 

9|Tqoj^ p9SS9SSod qsT^Siig; gq:^ jgq'^gqAV unq o; goiigjg^Tpiit 
JO jg^i^jL'tii -B SBAV ^ '^T ^qS ^ou pip X9qc^ JT ai^q^ pu'B 'J'B^ 
-p^iqir) JO uoi^isinbo'B gq^ uiiq^ ^uiv;joduii g.ioui j'bj '^i pgjg 
-pTSuoo gq :^t;q; i uoissgo jgq^o Xuu pg.inoo.id un^dg ou jo 
jgq^gqAv Asvd i'pogjjgd gq p^noAV gq '■'pduw^o )V7i} \>uv. 'j'bav 
gq^ Aq p9UTt?:jqo gq o; '^ogfqo {'Bdiouud gq^ S'B :;t pgpj'B^gi 
jg^siuuu gq^ '^m['\. ' %i qsinbuipj jgAgu ppoAV Su]y[ gT['; 
^Bq; i |[« ^Tuipij ipAV sv '^\\Sim Adi\'^ 'ooix9j\[ jo Jjnf) gq^ 
uiojj suoic^i3u ^^'B gpnpxg p|noo ui'Bdg ss9|un ^mp 'q^uij'BA\ 
JO ggjSgp gmos q^iAv 'Suii^t's '^i o:^ gjgqp'B o:^ uoi;^uiui 
-jg;gp s;i pu'B 'ui'Bdg o^ ^^ogfqo siq; jo gouii^jodun gq^ A\oqs 
o; i^uipug; „ ^Av.£ SjC'bs ^/suoi^j'BAjgsqo I'BjgAOS gpinu ^unoQ 
^nX " '08il '8S J8qm9:jd9g jo g:^Bp jgpun ''boui?i{i q;iAv 

•jviiD waississiH aiix jo ONmaJO anx 82,8 



•8X1 'dnruyof 'Manajg 

•2,e ^siioifvp^ pmoijmiM'iiq puv vqnQ ^uvi\v\\VQ g 

'018 '11 ''ssd.iOnoQ Jo simunof gauodg i 

n-Bip ^u'R{^jodrai 9J0UI pu'B 'j'BM 8i{:^ JO :^09l"qo ^'ediouud 9q:^ 

S'BAV TddlSSlSSIJ\[ 9l['; JO UOp-BSlAlJU 9ATSnpX9 9l{^ qijq!^ Xl?S 

o^ SI? j'Bj OS ju9A\ '.I9qra9;d9§ ui 'p99pui ''BOll'Big '^PI'^OI^ 

•U'B^'BOn^ O^ '^PI'^OW UIOJJ 1398 p9S0p V O0IX9J/\[ JO JjU^ 9q^ 

d995[ o:^ uredg jo jCoqod |'RA9np9iu ^qc^ sijav :^i !^ng •uoi^'bS 
-]Avu JO ^qSiJ 9q:^ jo 'st.i'BJ jo X'}'B9j:^ 9q'; in iiTijc^ug (^139Jjc) 
o^ II0TJ13AJ9S9J 9q'; J9pnn !^qSij giii'BS 9q:; p9iin'B|0 osp Aqv^^ 
'q^noiii s^i o:^ SJ9A\.od J9ipo jo iiomiraop 9q^ qSiiojq^ lii^s o:^ 
J9ATJ 13 Suo^-B 9Ai{ oqAV 9{do9d 'B JO ^qSu 9q:^ uo ^sisiii o:; 
i9Avod qsjg 9q:^ s-bav S9!:^y^g P^^I^^Il ^m, ■i^o'Buio[dip piioi:^ 
-'B[TJ9':^l^ in iC!^^9Aou v. s-bav,, 'i''Bp JO J9qd'B.iSoiq 9q^ sA'^s 
^/iddississij\[ 9q{^ jo uoi^'bSiauu 9q^ jo iioicjsgnb 9qj^ „ 
•s^pijou 9q:^ UT qsT-^ug 9q'} jo 90ii9ngiii jgq^.mj ^ii9A9jd o!^ 
p9pii9':^ui 9q S'B %sul 'sinjoTagmY 9q'; jo {O.i;iioo 9q:; jo ^no 
iC|9.Ti^ii9 Tddississi];\[ gq-j d995y o^ iioi!^'BiniiiJ9^9p siq s'bav :;x 
[j'yqq iioi':^'iU'Bp9p pi'sq v. Xq suoi'i^ogfqo i'biaij^; qons A'qas.v 
d99Avs o:^ p9ii9^S'Bq 'Uoii'B|g ^nq 'Xjjiinoo siq jo ^.ii^d 9ip uo 
1101(^013 qons Awq jo :^iiiuoiiSi 9:^rab S'BAV gq ^i^q:} p9;s9;ojd X'bj' 
g"'^i qsqqij^sgg.i o-; Sin:^diii9cj^'B joj Avon uosi^gj on p-cq pui? 
iddississi j\[ 9q^ jo 9sn 9q'^ o^ '\^Su \[e p9qsinbnq9.i pnq sg-^ii^g 
p9^iiiQ 9q^ %v\\'^ raiq o:^ p9J'Bp9p 'Bomqg ■epijojjj ^nnoQ '0811 
'i'Bj\[ uj 'pgnmssB gA^q o; ^jnoo qsiiiedg aqcj punoj £v£ 
qoiqAi iioi;isod gq':^ iC{9Si09.id si?av siq^ P" V x'l^^^^I^^I^^IK ^^l'^ 
9;'bSta'bii o^ :xqSyJ ^q^ nodn ^sisui O'; cxou pnw ''29LI Jo uoi^ 
-'Biu'B|oojd 9q:x in 2iuy[ qsiqi.ig 9q:x ^(\ p9qsqqi3;s9 9nq 9qj jo 
:}S9av 9qx o; s^ii9ui9|;:x9S g^jijui o; ^oii ss9iiSinniAV .i9q 9.iBp9p 

LL2 ?.9Ll H3MV SHOaHOIJTN: IISIXVcTS GNV HSIlOXa i"'^ 



'996 'I '^^'Z" ^^Hor f*^ sjddDj ojiqnj; puv d^topuodsaujoQ i 
jaAvod .ia;;i?j 8i[; ^i?q:^ TlOI:^Iplloo no '^claoxg sgcjijqg pg^^iuf]^ ai{cj 
T(;iA\ 9oin3i||i3 uv. o; ;iiasiioo ;ou p|noAV ui-BcIg qtjq^ ssajSuoQ 
JO 89:j;uuiuoo i? Suuu.iojui syA\ 'gu.Taznq '^']H^^I^P^I!HcI 
%v .la^sTuiiu qoug.ij a\.9u oq'; pTJpi3j\r ^ij pga^gddij pt'q £v,£ 
9.ioj9q ii9Ag[ -TddTSSissT]^ 9q; o; pj'BAV';s9Ai s9^'b;s pg'^Tur^ 
9q; JO iioisii^?dx9 9Ai!^09dsojd oqj jo sno{'B9[ iC]|^i09ds9 
9.i9Ai Xgq:^ ^t^qc^ pux? sireoiJ9uiY 9q:^ loj 9A0| oil p\;q sp.ii^T 
-ui^dg gq^ ^^'Bq'; tn'B;.T90S'B oj p9.imI)9J S'bav aiiii^ Tpmii ;o^ 
•X^jqiqou puB iC.T^suniii 9q:^ Xq p9';o9{S9u 7C|SS9{9ra'Bq8 pni? 
:).nioo 9q^ mo.ij pgpnpxg jC^piSu Si{'BM]^'B s-BAi. puB 'i'Bi^s ^sja^9i 
OAV^ siq SuTjnp dmx% Aw^ :}i? uot^iuSoo9J ]T3toij}0 tii'Biqo n9A9 
!^ou p{noo 9q '^oiij in ' q-joouis sire9ra ou Aq q^i^d oi;tnuo|dip 
9q; piinoj jg^^STTiiui u'B0Li9aiy gqj^ '1^0111312 "BpTJoy^^j :;imo3 
'g^^B^s JO jCj'B^gjogs qsui'Bdg !jsjg 9q:^ q^iA\. siioi^'BpoSgu qaij^ov 
Ligdo o:^ p9.ii?d9.id piiB pppi'ivr o:^ pgoiii^Apij A\i£ '9iu^o Siiuds 
ii9q^\^ 1 4/81101^9.1 9Aisu9^x9 9soq^ 9{';:;9s o^ Xressgogu 
gq i^iAV sqSm c^vii^ suoT^'B:^u9S9.id9J .inoi! raojj osp .n^gddi? 
'^i %Q'j '.JV.AS. u'Bipnj wu JO s.iojjoq 9Tp III iiigq^j gA^oAui 

OJ Sl^:}dlll9^:^'U JOJ llliqi.lJJ 0:^ 1101S.19AI? piii? 'S^ll9llI9J^pS 

9Aisii9^x9 's.igqiiinii SuiavojS .iigq"; 's9.§bai3S gq^ ^jsuiijS'B 
s;ii9ra9A9iqo'B .iigq:^ ^iinoo9|]; •iddississij/\[ gq^ Ji^gii A.x% 
-iinoo n.i9:^s9Ai 9q^ puB muiS.ii^ o-^ goi^^snC op oj .igqragiii 
-9.1 'sjre^'B iiBOiagiuy jo Siii^'egds iij,, : pii?s Av.£ '08il 
'£5 Xji?nin?f 'zip'BO ^'B pg^'Lq^ 'siioi'jonj^sin sj9in[r)Tut.ii;^) 
Ti[ -1301.19111 Y q^iAV sSiqi'Bgp .iigip in qou9.T^ gip a\(){|oj 0% 
p9sodo.id sp.i'Biuudg gq'j Xpsop A\oq J9AO0Sip o:; X||Bi09ds9 
piiB ^.inoo gqc^ jo gpn;i';:^i? gq:^ luv^i o'^ PFP'^K o^ gouiJA 
-pi? Ill 'pin{oiiu.i'B3 iti^'IIIIAV '"oi;bS9{ jo /".nj^g-iogy sn{ 'jugs 
A'f 'jBAV-jo-iauu qs||Su3[ iiv. Xq lI9Al.ip sbav fiovM'pdfuoQ 
gqj .i9q'[iqA\ 'zipi?^^ %v. pgjog^g SBAv Suipu'Bj 13 SB uoos sy 

■J^"^'» icwississiw anx ao ONiNra^o 3hx 9i.8 



■aiaidiiiuj }ou SI uuiw-wa SjS'ij.redg 'ogx 'ii\ '■uorpiiocid^ 
undj-idiay a?/j /o ^au^puodsdUuoQ oijviaoiiliQ 'sjiJ^dg in pu'E i fLf~ZL^' 
'III ^sdjvjg pdiiufi dy) Jo 'adUdpuods<>J,j,oj sj}manid}(j d.amofpqoaa^ 9yj^ 
'uo^JijqAV • 0SS~8fS 'I 'fit)/' tiyo/" fo s.iadDj oiiqnj imv d.nispxiodsdj,u,OQ 
8^ JO uoiiipa SjUO'jsuqof "d itauaji ui po^uud eju suoiiotu'jsu] aqx ^ 
"SiS '"P??/ 8 'Z'dZ-Z'dZ "11 'ssd.i6rioo fo siviunof %dJ.dd^ ^ 

7IS-II9 '11 's^^w?^' pd^mfi dill Jo Uxotmi 'uiJUij ui pa^uuj ^ 

•pjKiaiT) '.Ta^sTuiui qouGjj; 

-ajQAoS ai{^ no 80ubj^;i .toj p9j[a'Bqiii8 8i{ xqt^m\ SiC-gp jiioj 
ptiij f'™m ^% p 8^1 1 HIS u'Bi:^ 9J9A\. 'sjac^c^-Bui jouiui snoT.reA no 
gpi^.Tij wv, K(\ p9;ii9iu9{ddns 'suoi:;on.T^sui ^^iv.^ o,\ .i9qopQ 
*Xoi|od -B i[ons ^sui'bSi? pgpiogp ss9jSuoq jnoj o^ S9;i?c^s xis 
p g^A 13 jCjj g-90.i9rainoo pim X:^iuib jo i-^i^gj; -b jo uoisnp 
-uoo 9q^ oc^ ai?q giq-Bjgdnsm iii? piinoj 9q pynoqs %i\^\i qons 
uodn 90U9^sisiiT ui? p9pTA0jd 'o^ig JO |9||mi?d 9q; AYopq iddis 
-STSSTj\[ gq; JO uoi^^'bStahu 99jj u jo uirep 9q'^ raojj 9p909j o^ 
p9:^onj:^sni Xigc^i^AT.id 9q .ig-^surun 9q:^ jijq:; pgsodo.id 'iCgsjgf 
A\9^ JO 'iioodsjgq'^T^ uqop g]; .igqopQ P'^^''^ 'uoissuu 9Ap 
-09dsojd s^ifijf Suip.it'ggj sjT'B^gp snout'A jo uoissnosip q\c\q 
-jgpisuoo siJAV 9J9q!^ S5[99AV Jiioj JO 99.iq; :^x9n gq; Sin.niQ 
g^/S9:;'B^s 9S9q:^ jo S(>ui3;iqi?qui gq^ o^ SinSuopq sgsipmup 
-J9UI pui3 'sg-iiJAV 'spooS 's{9SS9A (;ui?qo.i9ra \\^ .lOJ 'iddlSSTS 
-si|\[ jgATj gq^ uo 'gpnjT^t?[ q^.ioii jo gg.iSgp ^s.ig-iCjjiq^ gq:^ 
Avopq s^.Tod JO !;jod :^ugiugAuoo guios iiii?jqo o-; joAi;gpu9 
o; iC{Ji3jnopj'Bd gj'B no^ „ piii? ^^ i t'gs gq:^ tuojj piiB o;iii 
Tddississij\[ gq-; jo uot'^^Sia'bu ggjj gq; Xofag \\va\^ sg^B^g 
pg^uif] gq:; '\'q\\^ 'g^fAVii? 'pgpiAOjd : i{(^S9fi3j\[ oipqcfVQ siq o:^ 
gui'Bs gq; i{':^in3Jt'nS {|iav sg^'B^g pg^uif^ gsgq;; 'iu'b^ijj^ ^ijgjr) 
aiojj siqiiJoj^Ki gq^ ui'B^qo n'^^^,, inijdg jo 2m^ q\\% jt '\'q\\% 
:SinA\0|{Oj gq^ gj9AV suoTSiAOjd Jigq^ Siiomy ^-saopiq:^ 
-oSgn qsuit'dg gq:^ joj suoponj-^sni jo :;gs v, pg^^jodgj gjoj 

518 S9it H3X5V SHOHHOiaN HSINLVtIS ONV HSITLONa i"A 



•9{q'Bdt?o SBAV aq qoiqAi jo gotajbs (^saq aq^ iCj:^unoo siq aAiS 
0^ jpsunq paSpa^d pa's '^t pa:^daoo'B Xi^p :^nq 'auo a^q-BTAua 
ui? :^on ajoja.iaq'^ S'bav ^sod aqx •iC:^ioqdnp piii? Xuoiu 
-TS.iml aiaq^ q^iAv ^snSsip ui aiui:; !^ioqs 'b ui AM^apq^iAv o; 
X{iio 'sja:^smTm qsiut^dg aq-^ q^T^i Sui(;x?i!;oSau ^u pu-eq siq 
pau^ pBq aaq jnq;.iy luiq Ja^jy "suv j %'^ sjt'b^'B o:^ auii^^ 
siq a;oAap o; :^iiaipadxa aaoiu :^i punoj piu{ (^uq ''mx 'X 
i.ii?nia'f '^sod aq:; joj pac^oaps iiaaq pt'q ui|5[iii3Jj 'pT.ip 
-t'j^ JO ;anoo aq; o:; aa:;uTodd'B u'BOuamy pJiq^ aq'^ TCi^-ea.! 
s^JAv Xt'p -inu^^i.Tg :^'Baj£) q^m aoi^ad 'b jo suoi^jBi^oSau 
uiSaq o^ iiasoqo s-bav siu'Bpy a^ut^ 'pajoa^a bva\ Av£ Av.-p 
Sumo||oj aqx 'g'-^'^T "^lOf P^'^ 'suiupy iiqof 'aa-^ .inq:^jy 
— api3iu ajaAv suop'BUTUTOu aajq^ 'pa^dopi? Sinaq uoi^oiu 
aq:^ put' ' Sin:y|[t";.iapnn aq:^ joj pa^iiioddij aq iC.iiu^ua:;odTiia|d 
ja^siumi V ^uq^i paAoiii 'i^uiiSjt^ jo 'q^iuig jaq'^aA\a.iaj\[ 9^ 
jaqraa^dag g-painj^^no snq^^ sis'Bq aq-) uodn X:^'Baj^ qsiia'dg 
V jo uoi'j'Bii^oSau di\% JOJ suoi^onj!:jsni dn AVBjp o^ pa^juiod 
-dv. svAS. aajq:^ jo aaq'iiuimoo v {u jaqiuac^dag) ami^ siq'j ^y 
•paddojp si3A\ Xpisqns 1? jo ja'^^'om aq'j 'ja:^iq sXi;p xis 'uoi; 
-'Rjapisuoo jaq'^jnj no qSnoqc^ 'ssajSuoQ jo apu'^ijji? ai^'^ jo 
iioissajdxa n-e sij pa;dopi? s'bav uoijnpsaj sup \i jaqiiiajdag 
^•uodn paajSt? aq o^ Xpisqns pnnu'B we sacjii^g pa^inr^ aq^ 
o; Avd ppioqs pii-B ^/s^jod Jo !;jod aajj ■b 'apu'jp'ut q^jou 
aajSap (^sjif-X^^jiq;^ aq-j jo pj'BMq:^nos ojaqAvauios jo ^v 'jaAtj 
\>]v.s Q\]% no qsqq'B^^sa pu'R 'uas aq:^ ojin TddTSSissij,\[ jaAij 
aq-; jo uot:^i^Siai3u aajj aq-^ sa';L':;g pa^uiQ aT[j 0^ :)uiuS W^il^ 
.^'^safi?!^^ oqoq^^;3 siq 'jinjc^ Si{'BA\p? p3piaou.d ^, 's^q:)^J0|^^I aq:; 
Sunui^Saj luojj papnpajd aq :;ou p^noqs aq 'ut'b:jij{j ^^ijajf) 

■'^"'^ la.TississiH 5IIIX ^0 ONiNado anx fis 



'SI'S 'II 'ssau/htoj JO sivu.inof )d.i.)d^ j 
'9L\ "IIIA 's-Y-'Oyll s^uojSui'qsvjii •asiiuo UBOiJauiv ^^'l 
JO pnauj I'Ba.i 'B gq o^ zaA^uo paAaipq 8h "s'BppoiJ eip jo ^sgnbuoo ei^ 
qiiM paijsi'^us jpsuiui pa-repap ifi^uanbasqns 'a9A8Moq 'uoiSuitis^aV t 

(^sui-bS^ ai?Av 9i{^ in GApo-B 9nupuoo pinoqs ureds Jo Siip[ aq^ 
ji ^^q:^ ^08^8 9^^ 0!:^ xiOTCfnpsaj i? peonpoj^ui '^nopoaiiiioQ 
JO 'iro^Suic^imfi pniu'Bg Av-p !^X9U 9qx •pt39^sui p9uit!c>qo 9q 
9|qissod SI? gi^q'BJOA'Bj sij s9S9|TAud |i3TOJ9uimoo ':^vi[]. p9:^S9S 
-Sns s-BAV %i 'dn n9ATS 9q :^snui uot'^'bSia'bu jo mopggjj 9q^ 

:^13q^ (^U9A9 UJ g^/UI'Bdg JO Slll5[ 9q:; O^ pi'BS9J0J'B iioi^uS 

-TAiJii 9q'; pun s-epuoi^ 9q'; jo 'i^m o^ 's99cju'B.i'BnS ^'BU'^mu 
o^ ':)U9SS'B 0% 'suopisodojd qons o:; 99.iS'B o:^ p9:)onj^siiT 9q 
a9^siinui Qi\% 898130 qons in 'q^^nora 8:;t o^ joc^mibo gq-^ mo.ij 
q^jou S99jS9p 9Lio-Aaiqc^ 9pn^T^'B{ UT 89T| qoiqM j09J9q^ qjvd 
"^mY^ raojj iddississij\[ gq'^ jo uopi^SiA'Bu 9ATsrpx9 9q^ iiodn 
piii3 raiq 0']. p9p90 SuToq st^puou 9q; iiodn ^stsui i^gAp 
-Tsod n^^qs i^^sgCf!]^ oipq^-BQ siq „ jt :;'Bq^ :;nq '. ^^ VQ'S 9qc^ oc^ui 
iddississi|\[ 9q; jo uot^'bSta'bu 99jj 9q^ osp pin? „ 'svpLio^^^ 
9q^ JO iioi8S98Sod 9ip siiBopgiuy 9qc^ o:^ Sui-insse .i9A\od 
%v.v[% q^iAV pgpnpuoo gq p|noqs X^i?9.t:^ v 'S9:^i?;g ps^l^^iil 
gq:^ pin? goiii?.! j jo .^\[\i we s-b j'bay gq:; in q.n?d OApoB iii? Q:i\v.% 
o"^ gpiogp pi^noqs nii^ds Ji ^^q^ %^^M^ ^^^ o^ iioi-ijTSodo.id 
1? ssgjSuoQ in pgonpo.i^in 'gj-BAveigQ jo 'iiosin5|[OT(x iiqof 
'6ilT '6 >i8qrag:^dg§ 'gOiX Jo M'^^^'\ ^^'^ ^^. pg9^in?J'BnS 
U99q puq qoiqAV TddTSSTSSTj\[ gq'^ jo gsn gg.ij gq^ ^s^AV ^^^ P 
9-[dogd 9ip joj p,ii?nSgji?8 o^ xxQy['e'\ gq o^ j^.i'BSsgogii sdo^s gq; 
jgpisuoo o:^ iCigc^iiiqgp in^Sgq '6 ill 'jgqrag^dgg si? iC{ji?9 si? 
'ssgjgiioQ {'B^ugui:^iioQ gq:^ 'iddississij,\r gq^ jo gsjuoo jgA\o| 
9q:^ JO gjojgjgq; pin? 'i?in?isino''j pin? si?piaou 9t[; qc^oq jo 
|o.i^uoo ni -^jg^ gq p^noAV ini?dg '9pi?iii gq ppioqs goi?9d ii9qA\ 
:^i?q'; X'^qiqissod SiiiAVoaS gq:; jo AvgiA iq ^-uaxo^-jjjo^ p'- 
p9:;i?iniiqno qoiqAV iiSn?dun?o gq:; in qjud g^q-Bagpisiioo i? gAi?i[ 

friG C9ii aaxdv SHoanoiaN hsinlvjs qnv HsnoxLi "'^ 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 389 

Thus in " expectation, suspense, and disappointment," 
as the disheartened envoy expressed it, month after month 
was passed, and though Count de Montmorin, the French 
minister at Madrid, urged a more considerate treatment 
of the Americans, the end of the war came with matters 
standing practically as Jay had found them when he 
had first appeared at the Spanish court. April 30, 1782, 
Congress formally voted its approval of Jay's conduct at 
Madrid, at the same time expressing the keenest surprise 
that the offer to yield the navigation of the Mississippi 
below 31° had not "produced greater effects on the coun- 
sels of the Spaniards." ^ The minister was urged again 
to sound the warning that, unless a treaty of alliance be 
speedily forthcoming, the United States would recede 
from her offer. Finally, on the 7th of August, Congress 
adopted the significant resolution that " the American 
minister at Madrid be instructed to forbear making any 
overtures to that court, or entering into any stipulations 
in consequence of overtures which he has made ; and in 
case any proposition be made to him by the said Court for 
a treaty with the United States, to decline acceding to the 
same until he shall have transmitted them to Congress for 
approbation." ^ Thus, despite the fact that when war was 
ended a Spanish alliance would be of comparatively little 
value to the United States, Congress left open for more 
than eight months after the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown the possibility of an amicable arrangement con- 

^ Secret Journals of Congress, III. 98 ; Correspondence and Public 
Papers of John Jay, II. 208. 

2 Secret Journals of Congress, III. 149 ; Correspondence and Public 
Papers of John Jay, II. 209. 



390 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ferring upon Spain the unrestricted sovereignty of the 
lower Mississippi. As one writer has suggested, " both Jay 
and Congress retired from the atmosphere of the Spanish 
court with greater dignity and self-respect than would 
have been possible had that body [Congress] changed its 
policy and professions with the changes in the military 
situation." 1 When the instructions of August 7 were 
signed, Jay was already busily engaged in the work 
which Congress had assigned him June 13 of the previous 
year, i.e. the cooperating with Franklin, Jefferson, Lau- 
rens, and Adams at Paris in the negotiation of the peace 
treaty with Great Britain. April 22, 1781, Franklin had 
written to Jay that he was greatly needed at Paris,^ and 
as it was very evident that nothing was being gained at 
Madrid, the removal to the more important scene of dip- 
lomatic activity was made a month or more later. Jay's 
secretary of legation, Carmichael, was to remain in Spain, 
and it was understood with Florida Blanca that nego- 
tiations might be continued with Aranda, the Spanish 
ambassador at Paris. 

For present purposes the only phase of the peace nego- 
tiation at Paris with which we are concerned was that 
respecting the establishment of the western and southern 
boundaries of the newly independent nation, and its corol- 
lary, the question of the free navigation of the Mississippi. 
As early as March 19, 1779, — three months before Spain 
became a party to the war against Great Britain, — Congress 

1 Henry P. Johnston, in Correspondence and Public Papers of John 
Jay, II. 209. 

2 Franklin to Jay, April 22, 1781 ; William Jay, Life of John Jay, II. 
94 ; Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, II. 300-312 passim. 



vm ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 391 

undertook to make a statement of the territorial limits 
which the United States would attempt to assure for her- 
self in event of a Spanish alliance and a successful conclu- 
sion of the war which was expected speedily to follow. ^ 
Even at this time, before Galvez's campaigns had begun, 
it was proposed that Florida be committed to Spain. The 
western boundary of the United States was to be the Mis- 
sissippi ; the northern, not south of parallel 45° ; and the 
southern, the parallel 31°. The question of the navigation 
of the Mississippi was left unmentioned, though probably 
it was assumed that the river trade would be free and 
open. August 14 of the same year, in compliance with the 
urgent advice of the French minister Gerard, Congress 
drew up definite instructions for the guidance of John 
Adams, who had already been selected as minister pleni- 
potentiary to negotiate a peace with Great Britain. On 
the subject of a western and southern boundary the in- 
structions traced a limit as follows: "Thence [from Lake 
Nipissing] to the source of the river Mississippi : west, 
by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Mis- 
sissippi from its source to where the said line shall intersect 
the thirty-first degree of north latitude : south, by a line 
to be drawn due east from the termination of the line last 
mentioned ... to the middle of the river Appalachicola, 
or Catahouche ; thence along the middle thereof to its 
junction with the Flint River ; and thence down along the 
middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantick Ocean." ^ 
The final instructions under which the treaty was con- 
cluded were issued June 15, 1781 — immediately after 
Franklin, Laurens, Jefferson, and Jay were joined with 
1 Secret Journals of Congress, II. 138. 2 jbid., 226. 



392 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Adams in the negotiation. On this occasion Congress 
simply declared that, so far as boundaries were concerned, 
the instructions to Adams in 1779 still "expressed its 
desires and expectations." With the exception of the ex- 
plicit injunction to consult France on every portion of the 
proposed treaty, the commissioners were to be at liberty 
" to secure the interest of the United States in such manner 
as circumstances may direct, and as the state of the bel- 
ligerent and disposition of the mediating powers may 
require."^ 

At many points in the course of the Revolution it had 
been apparent that both France and Spain were fearful 
lest the revolting British colonies should achieve too great 
a measure of success. Fi*ance had allied herself with the 
colonies in 1778 with the primary purpose of revenging 
herself upon England by ensuring the loss of the latter 
power's American possessions ; but she did not ai3prove 
of the prospective extension of the new nation all the way 
westward to the Mississippi. As early as 1779 Luzerne 
was making a vigorous effort at Philadelphia to induce 
Congress to abandon the claim of navigating that river. 
Gerard, before him, had declared that unless this claim 
was given up Spain would very likely cast in her fortunes 
on the British side of the war. That Spain had no idea of 
such a course is perfectly obvious, for she was bent almost 
solely upon the recovery of Gibraltar and the Floridas, 
both of which had to be taken from the British. But it 
has already been made clear that the Spanish, though allies 
of the French, were far from standing in that relation to 
the Americans, and that they were keenly hostile to every 
1 Secret Journals of Congress, II. 446. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 3'J3 

proposition looking to the inclusion of the eastern Missis- 
sippi Valley in the American nation. 

When the negotiations were opened at Paris in 1782, 
the Spanish, French, and English were still engaged in 
hostilities, though the war in America had come entirely 
to a close. This in itself was enough to complicate 
matters. But France, on the one hand, was an ally of 
the United States, and on the other, of Spain — which 
two powers had been proved to be utterly irreconcilable. 
Moreover, by the treaty of 1778, the Americans had 
bound themselves not to conclude peace with Great 
Britain without the concurrence of France ; and by the 
treaty of 1779 the French had obligated themselves not 
to make peace with the English until the Spanish should 
have taken Gibraltar. All together the situation was a 
perplexing one, and it is little to be wondered at that the 
more enthusiastic of the American commissioners, Adams 
and Jay, finally decided to cut the Gordian knot by throw- 
ing the treaty of 1778 and the instructions of Congress to 
the winds, and addressing themselves to the securing of 
the best terms possible from Great Britain independently 
of the continental powers. 

This policy had its immediate origin in the suspicions 
of the commissioners, particularly of Jay, that the French 
ministry proposed to lend its hearty support to the scheme 
of the Spanish to deprive the United States of all terri- 
tory west of the Alleghanies. For the most part, these 
suspicions can be shown very clearly to-day to have been 
well-founded, and it was only by the shrewdest diplomatic 
mancBUvring, coupled with the cooperation of America's 
nominal foe. Great Britain, that the ulterior designs of the 



394 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Bourbon monarchies failed of realization. Not long after 
Jay had arrived at Paris to participate in the negotiations, 
he had an interview with the Spanish ambassador, Aranda, 
who proceeded to declare for the Spanish control of the 
Mississippi as emphatically as Florida Blanca had ever 
done at Madrid, and further, to argue that the western 
territory, so far as it was not in the possession of the 
Indians, belonged of right to Spain by virtue of her con- 
quest of West Florida and her posts on the Mississippi 
and the Illinois. Some weeks subsequently Rayneval, 
the confidential secretary of the French foreign minister. 
Count de Vergennes, confessed to Jay that his master 
proposed to support the Spanish contention, and that he 
favored giving Spain both sides of the Mississippi below 
31°, while agreeing that the territory east of the river and 
lying between 31° and the Ohio should be left an Indian 
country, half under a Spanish and half under an American 
protectorate. The division line between the two " spheres 
of influence " was to start at the mouth of the Cumberland 
River, follow that stream nearly to the present site of Nash- 
ville, run thence southward to the Tennessee, curve east- 
ward almost to the Alleghanies, and descend through what 
is now eastern Alabama to the Florida line. A further 
part of the scheme was that the country north of the Ohio 
should remain in the possession of the British.^ Thus the 

1 Gerard Rayneval, "Idea on the Manner of Determining and Fixing 
the Limits between Spain and the United States on the Ohio and on the 
Mississippi," in the Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 74-80. This paper 
was not an official communication, but as Jay declared, " it was not to be 
believed that the first and confidential secretary of the Count de Vergennes 
would, without his knowledge and consent, declare such sentiments and 
offer such propositions, and that, too, in writing." 




THE PAUTIT10N1X(; OF THE WEST 
PROPOSED BY THE COURT OF FKAXCE I.N 1781 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1703 395 

young American nation would from the outset find itself 
limited to the belt of land between the Atlantic and the 
Alleghanies, while the powers of Europe would be left to 
dispose at will of the larger part of the great interior. 
The country which had been explored by the Boones and 
McAfees, conquered by Clark, settled by the Seviers, 
Robertsons, and Kentons, and long regarded as belonging 
by every conceivable right to the people of the seaboard 
states, was to remain an Indian reserve over which the 
United States could exercise only the most general juris- 
diction.^ Such a plan to rob the Americans of the fruits 
of their victory betrayed the essential selfishness of the 
French court, while it had been understood almost from 
the beginning that the Spaniards were wasting no ardor 
on behalf of the American cause. It was the laying bare, 
in a considerable measure at least, of this double-dealing 
policy that gave the American commissioners their best 
justification for breaking the instructions of Congress and 
ignoring their nominal European ally in the later stages 
of the negotiation. 2 

The preliminary treaty of peace between the United 



1 For maps showing the boundaries of the United States, Canada, and 
the Spanish possessions, according to the proposals of the court of France 
in 1782, see Fiske, Critical Period, 20, and Foster, A Century of Ameri- 
can Diplomacy, 60. 

2 On the breaking of the instructions, see Pellevv, John Jay, Chs. VII. 
and VIII. ; Trescot, Diplomacy of the United States, I. 100-106. 118-128 ; 
Wharton, li evolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, I., Introduction, 
§§ 109-111 ; John Adams, Works, I. 340-342, 363-376 ; Lecky, History of 
England in the Eighteenth Century, IV. 255-264 ; Winsor, Narrative and 
Critical History, VII. Ch. II. ; Hall, International Lata (4th ed.), .347 ; 
Wheaton, International Law (ed. by Dana), §§ 257-262 ; Correspondence 
and Public Papers of Juh)i Jay, U. passim. 



396 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

States and Great Britain was signed at Paris, November 
30, 1782, and the definitive treaty, September 3, 1783, the 
interval of eight months having been taken up with the 
adjustment of relations between England and France. 
One result of the Revolution had been to add the newly 
created United States to the number of nations interested 
in the disposition of the lands in the Mississippi Valley, 
and the British having lost in that quarter, it was the 
natural thing that the American negotiators at Paris 
should insist with uncompromising energy upon the 
establishment of the Mississippi as the western boundary 
of the young nation whose interests they represented. 
As a consequence of Rayneval's revelations it was strongly 
suspected by Jay, with whom Adams concurred after his 
arrival upon the scene, that the French government was 
planning nothing less than to recover possession of the 
eastern half of old Louisiana, and it was chiefly because 
of this suspicion that the Americans proceeded to make 
a treaty with the British commissioner, Oswald, without 
consulting the French ministry, as they were under obli- 
gation to do by the treaty of alliance in 1778 as well as 
by their instructions from Congress. Franklin was loath 
to charge the French with such designs; but there can 
no longer be doubt that Adams and Jay were not far 
wrong, though it is to be believed that their suspicions 
proceeded from the general principle of distrust on which 
they acted througliout the negotiation, rather than from 
any considerable amount of specific and incriminating 
evidence in their possession. England preferred that the 
disputed inland teiritory belong to the new and compara- 
tively isolated nation rather than that it should fall again 



Tin ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 397 

under the rule of either of her continental enemies; and 
the American representatives, therefore, found no great 
difficulty in securing their demands upon this point. 

By the treaty, the western boundary of the United 
States was declared to be " a line to be drawn along the 
middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect 
the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north 
latitude." The southern boundary was defined by "a 
line to be drawn due east from the determination of 
the line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one 
degrees north of the equator to the middle of the river 
Appalachicola or Catahouche ; thence along the middle 
thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence 
straight to the head of St. Mary's River ; and thence 
down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlan- 
tic Ocean." Tins was precisely the boundary which 
Congress, in the successive instructions issued to the 
commissiohers, had declared to be desirable. It was 
further specified that the navigation of the Mississippi 
throughout its entire course should " remain forever free 
and open to the subjects of Great Britain, and the citizens 
of the United States." ^ By a subsequent treaty between 

1 The text of the treaty is in the Revised Statutes relating to the Dis- 
trict of Columbia etc. (ed. 187')), 266-260, and in MacDonald, Select 
Documents of United States Histary, 15-21. Probably the best general 
discussion of the treaty and its negotiation is that by John Jay, in Winsor, 
Xarrative and Critical History, VII. Ch. II. Other accounts deserving 
mention are Lecky, History of Enrjland in the Eif/hteenth Century 
(Amer. ed.), IV. 218-289 ; Bancroft, History of the United States (ed. 
1874), X. Chs. XX VI. -XX IX. ; Foster, A Century of American Diplo- 
macy, Ch. II. ; Lyman, The Diplomacy of the United Slates, I. Ch. IV. ; 
Pellew, John Jay, Ch. VIII. ; Morse, John Adams, Ch. IX., and Benja- 
min Franklin, Ch, XI. ; Fiske, The Critical Period, Ch. I. ; John Jay, 



398 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Spain and Great Britain the Bahama Islands were ceded 
by the former power to the latter in return for the two 
Floridas — East and West — which went back to Spain 
after remaining in English possession just twenty years. ^ 
Three nations instead of two again shared the American 
continent. Great Britain possessed the region north of 
the Great Lakes. Spain continued in possession of the 
territory west of the Mississippi, and once more also held 
sway over the Floridas, extending from New Orleans east- 
ward to the Atlantic. The remainder of the continent, 
about 827,800 square miles, constituted the United States. 
The population of the latter was not far from three and a 
half millions — one person to every four square miles, or 
a total of less than the number of people now gathered 
within the boundaries of Greater New York. Considered 
from the standpoint of overcrowding, at least, it was not 
to be supposed that the young nation would care to 
enlarge her boundaries for many a generation to come. 
Men were already saying, both in Europe and in America, 
that a territory so vast as that stretching from the Atlan- 

"The Peace Negotiations of 1782-1783," in the American Historical 
Association Papers, III. 79-100, and "Count de Vergennes," in tlie 
3Iagazine of American History, XIII. 31-38 ; Wharton, Digest of Inter- 
national Law (ed. 1887), III. 892-956 ; and Trescot, TJie Diplomacy of 
the Bevolution, Ch. IV. The more important original sources of in- 
formation are Sparks, Diplomatic Correspondence, VI. VII. ; Wharton, 
Diplomatic Correspondence, V. VI. ; Secret Journals of Congress ; 
Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay ; Franklin, Works ; 
John Adams, Works ; and the Anmial Register. 

1 Chalmers, Collection of Treaties, I. 495. It should be observed that 
except for vague claims on the basis of early exploration along the Gulf 
coast the Spaniards cannot be said ever hitherto to have possessed tliat 
part of Florida lying west of the Perdido River. Between 1099 and 1703 
this district was held by the French. 



VIII ENGLISH AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS AFTER 1763 399 

tic to the ^Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to Florida 
could not long be held together under a single national 
system. But even while they were speaking, events were 
hastening forward which were not merely to set at naught 
all speculations of this sort, but were to create an inexo- 
rable demand that the national domain be yet further 
enlarged and the possessions of European powers in 
America still further restricted. The Spanish Count 
d'Aranda, at the conclusion of the peace of 1782, saw 
more clearly into the future than did most of his contem- 
poraries when, in a letter to his royal master, he uttered 
the notable prophecy concerning the United States : 
" This federal republic is born a pigmy. A day will 
come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable 
in these countries. Liberty of conscience, the facility for 
establishing a new population on immense lands, as well 
as the advantages of the new government, will draw 
thither farmers and artisans from all the nations. In a 
few years we shall watch with grief the tyrannical exist- 
ence of this same colossus."^ 

1 Among other notable prophecies upon this occasion was that of 
Signor Dolfin. the Venetian ambassador at Paris, who declared, "If the 
union of the American provinces shall continue, they will become by 
force of time and of the arts the most formidable power in the world." 
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VII. 152. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 

DURING the eight years between the outbreak of the 
Revolution and the treaty of Paris a remarkable 
increase had occurred in the population of the eastern 
Mississippi Valley. It is estimated that in 1783 there 
were in Kentucky and Tennessee alone not fewer than 
thirty thousand English-speaking people, and after the 
restoration of peace and the establishing of national in- 
dependence the tide of westward migration from the 
seaboard states set in more strongly than ever. To men 
of hardy courage and thrifty enterprise the vast and as 
yet almost wholly undeveloped territory across the moun- 
tains offered many inducements. Land was there to be 
had in the most generous quantities for little more than 
the asking. There might he who had failed to prosper 
in the more crowded East find new and better opportuni- 
ties, if not for the amassing of great wealth, at least for 
the securing of an ample competence. There also might 
he whose fortunes had been broken by the war most 
quickly and most surely recuperate. In many cases, too, 
the natural impulse to migrate was strengthened by spe- 
cific grants of land under the authority of the state 
governments, particularly to men who had served as 
soldiers in the war, but whom the state was unable to 
pay in any other fashion. 

400 



CHAP. IX NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 401 

■ Prior to the close of the Revolution — in fact, until the 
beginning of the national period — westward migration 
was mainly from the Southern states, and lience it Avas 
the reg'ion south of the Ohio rather than that north of it 
that was most rapidly settled. Three of these Southern 
states had very extensive western claims, based for the 
most part upon royal charters. Virginia asserted a right 
of control over the entire region between her present 
southern boundary prolonged to the Mississippi and the 
present Canadian boundary from Lake Erie to the west 
end of Lake Superior and thence to the northwest as far 
as the Lake of the Woods, — in other words, more than 
a third of all the country between the Alleghanies and 
the Mississippi. This extensive claim, however, was dis- 
puted in the region of Lakes Erie and Michigan by both 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, and farther south by New 
York. North Carolina had a western claim representing 
substantially the present state of Tennessee, and several 
years before the close of the Revolution she had taken 
formal possession of the country in question. Georgia 
had a similar claim to the territory now included in the 
states of Alabama and Mississippi. Professor McMaster 
is authority for the statement that by 1783 less than 
twenty thousand acres of these immense domains had been 
surveyed and mapped. " It may be doubted," continues 
this writer, " whether as many as ten thousand acres were 
under cultivation. Less was known of the country than 
of the heart of China. There the Indians hunted the 
buffalo and the deer, and the trappers, unmolested, laid 
snares for the beaver and the mink. The inhabitants of 
the easi orn part, a gaunt, rawboned, poverty-stricken race, 

2d 



402 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

were as much objects of curiosity to the refined and pol- 
ished natives of Boston and New York as an Esquimau 
or Turk. They dwelt in the rudest kind of log cabins, 
and knew no other money than whiskey and tlie skins of 
wild beasts. They yielded no revenue to the states claim- 
ing their allegiance, and were, in truth, but nominally 
under the authority of the legislatures. No troops were 
stationed among them to enforce obedience to the laws of 
the land. No judges ever journeyed to them to correct 
abuses, to mete out justice, to vindicate the majesty of the 
law. But, left to themselves, the people administered 
prompt and rude justice with the knife and the gun. Up 
to 1784 these lands had been little more than a source of 
contention and strife."^ 

In the meantime, during the course of the war, the 
exigencies of the formation of a united government had 
pretty largely determined the control of all the land west 
of the Alleghanies. The conquest of the Northwest by 
George Rogers Clark in 1778-1779 under the immediate 
auspices of Virginia had given rise to a general alarm 
among states, such as Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
whose western claims conflicted with hers, and also among 
states, such as Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware, 
which had no western claims at all, lest when peace was 
restored Virginia should be left so large and wealthy that 
she would completely overshadow her sister common- 
wealths. This feeling was especially strong in Maryland, 
long the jealous rival of the Old Dominion, and it was 
from the delegation of this state that there came the 
earliest proposition advanced in Congress to the effect 
^ McMaster, History of the People of the United States, I. 140. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1788-1795 408 

that the United States in Congress assembled should have 
" the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and 
fix the western boundary of such states as claim to the 
Mississippi, or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the 
boundary so ascertained into separate and independent 
states, from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances 
of the people may require." ^ This motion was made 
October 15, 1777, two days before Burgoyne's surrender 
at Saratoga, and just when the Articles of Confederation 
were on the point of being submitted to the states for 
ratification. For the present the proposition was con- 
sidered too radical, and no delegation except that from 
Maryland voted for it. As time went on, however, the 
idea grew in favor that instead of the western lands 
remaining under the control of five or six of the more 
lucky states they should be thrown together as the common 
possession of all the states which by united effort were 
winning from the British the right of independent nation- 
ality. Maryland in particular adhered without compromise 
to her original proposal, and though by February, 1779, all 
the other states in one way or another had been induced 
to accede to the Articles, she steadfastly stood out against 
a union on any terms other than the nationalizing of all 
the western claims of the individual states. This ulti- 
matum forced a general discussion of the whole question 
in Congress, through newspapers, and in state legislatures. 
The urgency of the perfecting of the union was great, and 
that union, even under the loose system contained in the 
Articles, was possible only by the accession of every one 
of the thirteen states. Since Maryland made it emphati- 
^ Journals of Congress, II. 290. 



404 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

cally understood that she would not ratify the pending 
constitution until Congress should give assurance that the 
Northwest Territory would be "parcelled out into free, 
convenient, and independent governments," there was no 
hope of union except by a surrender on part of the land- 
holding states. 1 

The first of these to act was New York, whose legis- 
lature, February 19, 1780, voted to cede all western 
claims to the national government. This broke the 
ice, and thereafter the states which hesitated to take a 
similar step were put upon the defensive. September 6, 
1780, Congress recommended that the example of New 
York be universally imitated. ^ The next month, by the 
notable resolution of October 10, Congress definitely 
pledged itself against permanent colonization in the West 
by promising that all unappropriated lands ceded to the 
United States by any state should be disposed of for the 
common benefit, and should be " settled and formed into 
distinct republican states, which shall become members of 
the federal union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, 
freedom, and independence as the other states."^ This 
unequivocal announcement of policy brought the desired 
effect. Within the same month Connecticut offered to 
cede all her claim except three and a quarter millions of 
acres on the southern shore of Lake Erie — the so-called 
"Western Reserve" — which she wished still to hold for 
educational purposes. Despite its incomplete character, 

1 Herbert B, Adams, "Maryland's Influence in Founding a National 
Commonwealth," in the Maryland Historical Society Publications, 
No. XL, and the same paper under a slightly different title in the Johns 
Hopkins University Stiulies in Historical and Political Science, 3rd 
Series, 7-54. 2 joiirnals of Congress, III. 516. 

8 Ibid., 535; Joseph Blunt, Formation of the Confederacy, 74. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 405 

the cession was gladly accepted by Congress. January 2, 
1781, Virginia offered to yield all the territory north of 
the Ohio on condition that Congress guarantee her the 
possession of Kentucky.i There was much objection, 
however, to continuing the practice of conditional cessions, 
and during the three years of discussion which followed 
Congress manifested no small measure of unwillingness 
to receive the Virginia grant unless it included all that 
state's transmontane claims. With the understanding 
that Kentucky should soon be elevated to the dignity of 
statehood, the conditional cession was finally accepted 
March 1, 1784.2 In the meantime, a month after Virginia 
had made her original offer, it had become sufficiently 
apparent to Maryland that her plans for a national do- 
main Avas to prevail, and she had forthwith instructed 
her delegates in Congress, February 2, 1781, to accede to 
the Confederation. On the first day of the following 
March the new constitution went into effect. ^ The ces- 
sion of state claims in the Northwest was completed 
April 19, 1784, when Massachusetts hastened to imitate 
Virginia's magnanimity during the previous month.^ 

1 Journals of Congress, IV. 265. 

2 The act of the Virginia assembly and the deed of cession are in Poore, 
Federal and State Constittitions, I. 427-428, 

^ Journals of Congress, III. 582. 

* On the cessions of western lands by the states, see McMaster, History 
of the People of the United States, I. Ch. II. ; Winsor, Narrative and 
Critical History, VII. Appendix I., entitled "Territorial Acquisitions and 
Divisions " ; II. B. Adams, "Maryland's Influence in Founding a National 
Commonwealth," in the 3Iartjland Historical Society Puhlications, No. 
XI. ; F. J. Turner, " We.stern State-Making in the Revolutionary Era,'' 
in the American Historical Revieio, I. 251-258 ; Shosuke Sato, "The Land 
Question in the United States," in the Johns Hopkins University Studies 
i» Historical and Political Science, 4th Series, Nos. VII.-IX.; Henry 
Gannett, Boundaries of the United States and of the Several States and 



406 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The transfer of the western territory from the sover- 
eignty of the individual states to that of the nation 
imposed a new burden upon Congress. From the out- 
set the theory upon which that body proceeded was that 
the territory acquired from the states was as completely 
subject to its authority as it had been a decade before 
to that of the king of Great Britain. Throughout the 
troubled period of the Confederation, Congress was 
strong at this point, if at no other, and would never for 
a moment concede the right of the frontier populations 
to set up their own governments. Governments were 
established, but they were either in defiance of the 
national authority or else constituted by its express per- 
mission. When the cessions by Virginia and Massachu- 
setts, early in 1784, brought the entire Northwest 
Territory under the jurisdiction of Congress, it was at 
once perceived that sooner or later there would have 
to be some sort of recognized system of administration 
for the dependent territory. Thomas Jefferson, there- 
fore, set himself to work to devise such a system. The 
result was the Ordinance of 1784, which provided for 
the ultimate division of the territory into ten states 
under conditions to be strictly imposed by the national 
government. ^ This ordinance was never really in force. 

Territories ; Thomas Donaldson, The Public Domain (House Misc. Doc. 
47th Cong., Second Sess., Pt. 4, No. 45); Joseph Bhmt, Historical Sketch 
of the Formation of the Confederacy. The most important original source 
of information is the Journals of Congress., from 1777 to 1789. A vast 
quantity of material is contained in the biographies and writings of Madi- 
son, Jefferson, Washington, Arthur St. Clair, Manasseh Cutler, Patrick 
Henry, and George Mason. 

1 The text of the Ordinance of 1784 is printed in the Old South Leaflets, 
No. CXXVII. In Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VII. 629, there 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 407 

however, because for some years to come the English- 
speaking i^opnlation north of the Ohio was too insignifi- 
cant to warrant the establishment of even temporary local 
governments. In 1787 the notable Northwest Ordinance 
was adopted by Congress as a means of encouraging set- 
tlement in the Ohio Valley, and this colonial charter — 
for in effect that is about what it amounted to — sub- 
sequently reaffirmed by the Congress of the Constitution, 
long continued to be the basis of law and politics in the 
Northwest. 1 It provided distinctly for three stages of 
progress — the temporary territorial, the more fixed 
territorial, and that of ultimate statehood. Under the 
first stage the government to be established by Congress 
closely resembled that of modern crown colonies in the 
British Empire, though when the growth of population 
should permit, a more liberal system was to be established, 
embracing a general assembly in two houses, considerable 
legislative powers, and a delegate in Congress to be 
allowed to speak, but not to vote. Even at this status, 
however, and especially when application should be made 
for the dignity of statehood. Congress was to stand ever 

is a map of the proposed division of states by this ordinance. See Sparks, 
Writings of Washington, IX. 48, and Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 68. 

1 The text of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is in the Bevised Statutes 
(ed. 1878) and MacDonald, Select Documents, 21-29. For discussions of 
the Ordinance, see W. F. Poole, " The Ordinance of 1787 " in the North 
American Revieio, CXII. 229-205 ; Cutler and Perkins, Life, Journals, 
and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler ; Edward Coles, History of 
the Ordinance of 1787 ; Jay Amos Barrett, The Evolution of the Ordinance 
of 1787 (Univ. of Nebraska, Departments of History and Economics 
Seminary Papers) ; Hinsdale, Old Northwest, Ch. XV.; McMaster, 
History of the People of the United States, I. Ch. V.; Dunn, Indiana, 
Ch. v.; and Israel W. Andrews, "The Northwest Territory," in the 
Magazine of American History, XVI. 133-147. 



408 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ready with conditions and restrictions to determine what 
the political rights and practices of the people should be. 
And it should be observed in passing that the rigid sys- 
tem thus applied by Congress to the territory acquired 
by conquest during the Revolution has been pretty 
generally perpetuated thoughout the later dealings of 
the United States with dependencies acquired under other 
and varied conditions. 

For some years immediately after the Revolution by 
far the most important part of the western country was 
that south of the Ohio ; and of this the most interesting 
was the region known as Tennessee. Kentucky had been 
almost abandoned by English-speaking people for a time 
in the year 1775, but Tennessee had been continuously 
settled since the founding of the Watauga commonwealth 
in 1772,1 and had come to include a population of consider- 
able number — perhaps as many as ten thousand souls. ^ 
In June, 1784, this territory was ceded by North Carolina 
to the nation, though it was not until 1790 that the trans- 
fer was finally made complete. At the time of the ces- 
sion it was understood that Congress should have two 
years in which to accept, and in the meantime the juris- 
diction of North Carolina was to be continued as before. 
In the splendid pasture lands lying between the Holston, 
the Cumberland, and the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge, how- 
ever, during the past decade had gathered a population of 
hardy and independent people whom the experiences of 
frontier life had brought to the conclusion that nothing 

1 The first settler on the Watauga, William Bean, crossed the moun- 
tains from North Carolina in 1709. 

2 Albach, Annals of the West [Pittsburg, 1858], 607. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 409 

was gained by attempting to keep up a political attacli- 
jnent with the East. They had petitioned the North 
Carolina legislature time and again for protection against 
the tomahawks of the Cherokees, but always in vain, and 
now the state was ready to cast them off entirely. There 
was little ground, it was believed, for expecting that the 
United States would extend the desired relief or authorize 
the coveted local self-government. Therefore these people 
of the backwoods proceeded to hold a convention in a log 
cabin at Jonesborough and adopt a resolution of secession 
from North Carolina. The three counties — Washington, 
Greene, and Sullivan — which participated in the move- 
ment were organized into a new political body to be known 
as the state of Franklin, with a written constitution, a two- 
house legislature, and a full corps of executive and judicial 
officials. The choice for governor fell upon John Sevier, 
one of the founders of the Watauga Association, whose 
long and notable career in the West had won him the 
significant name of "the lion of the border." While the 
Tennesseeans proposed to insure for themselves a consid- 
erable degree of autonomy, however, they did not care to 
attempt the impossible task of maintaining absolute inde- 
pendence. Hence a delegate was despatched to request of 
Congress that the new state of Franklin be admitted as 
the fourteenth in the Union. 

In the meantime the legislature of North Carolina was 
not by any means disposed to acquiesce in the turn matters 
were taking. The act of cession was hastily repealed, and 
the work of reducing the rebels to order commenced. It 
was recognized that the secessionists had not a few real 
grounds of complaint, and the assembly addressed itself 



410 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

first of all to the work of removing these excuses for 
refractory conduct. Courts were ordered to be organized,* 
an attorney-general for the back country to be appointed, 
the Tennessee militia to be formed into a brigade, and 
Sevier was commissioned to take command of the defences 
of the territory. The result of these conciliatory meas- 
ures was the utmost confusion in the seceding counties. 
The people were split into two factions, the one wishing 
to persevere in the effort to acquire statehood on a foot- 
ing equal with the mother state, the other advocating the 
policy of yielding because grievances had been redressed. 
In 1786 one party elected delegates to the North Carolina 
legislature, the other chose members to sit in the legisla- 
ture of Franklin. Two complete sets of officials claimed 
authority, and for two more years civil strife was inces- 
sant. In the end the party of reconciliation won and, 
like other self-constituted commonwealths of the period, 
the state of Franklin came to an ignominious end. Sevier 
was arrested on a charge of high treason, but escaped, and 
subsequently was so fully restored to public favor that in 
1796, when Tennessee became a state of the Union, he was 
enthusiastically chosen to be her first governor. ^ 

The corner-stone principle of our first generation of 
statecraft was that the newly created United States should 
jealously guard against becoming involved in the tangles 
of European politics. Washington warned against " quit- 

1 The history of the short-lived state of Franklin is related in Ramsey, , 
Annals of Tennessee, Chs. III.-V. ; Phelan, History of Tennessee, Chs. 
X.-XII. ; F. J. Turner, " Western State-Making in the Revolutionary 
Era," in the American Historical Review, I. 258-2G1 ; McMaster, His- 
tory of the People of the United States, I. 156-163 ; James R. Gilmore, 
Johti Sevier as a Commonwealth-builder ; and George H. Alden, "The 
State of Franklin," in the American Historical Beview, VIII. 271-289. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MlSSISSIPri, 1780-1795 411 

ting our own to stand on foreign ground." John Adams 
declared it to be " very true that we ought not to involve 
ourselves in the political system of Europe, but to keep 
ourselves always distinct and separate from it." Jeffer- 
son repeatedly urged the sentiment of his first inaugural, 
" Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all, entan- 
gling alliances with none." Considering the resources 
and ideals of the people this was all very wholesome, but 
as a matter of fact it was early discovered that no civil- 
ized nation, not even one three thousand miles from 
Europe under eighteenth-century conditions, could possi- 
bly maintain a steadfast course of isolation. Endeavor as 
they might, the people of the United States from the out- 
set could not abstain from interest or influence in the 
councils of European powers. This was the more true 
because certain of these powers were vitally interested in 
the disposition of affairs in America. 

On the establishing of her independence the United 
States was left with two European neighbors — England 
on the northern border and Spain on the southern and 
western. It was a matter of common knowledge, too, 
that France was extremely desirous of repossessing her- 
self of the great region between the Mississippi and the 
Rockies which she had lost to Spain twenty years before. 
Only the poverty of her treasury was preventing such a 
consummation. The truth is, therefore, that in these early 
days we had no need to cross the Atlantic to become 
involved in European affairs ; we were hemmed in on 
every side but one by European possessions with which 
we were compelled to maintain some sort of relations, and 
instead of two, it seemed not at all improbable that soon 



412 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

three alien flags would float over soil contiguous with our 
own. During the first quarter-century of independence 
the diplomacy of the United States with Europe was con- 
cerned in a very large degree with the settlement of our 
border-line relations with the Spanish, French, and Eng- 
lish. Except for the question of the Northwest posts, 
with the English we managed, on the whole, to get on 
fairly well ; but on the west and south trouble was well- 
nigh perennial. By the westward movement the pioneers 
from the United States were brought face to face in con- 
stantly greater numbers with the Spaniard across the Mis- 
sissippi and the Florida border, and in neither place did 
the relations between the two peoples long continue to be 
even presumptively harmonious. The more fundamental 
causes of conflict were the abiding differences in race, 
religion, government, and general manner of life — the 
same that had organized the Armada and impelled Crom- 
well to a Spanish war. The immediate occasions of ill 
feeling were two in number — the dispute over the Florida 
boundary line and the navigation of the Mississippi. 

It will be remembered that by the treaty of peace 
between Great Britain and the United States, negotiated 
in 1782 and issued in definitive form in 1783, it was pro- 
vided that " the navigation of the river Mississippi, from 
its source to the ocean, shall remain forever free and 
open to the subjects of Great Britain, and the citizens of 
the United States." This would doubtless have been an 
abiding settlement of the matter had not Spain, then 
hostile to both Great Britain and the United States, 
possessed all the lands west of the river, as well as the 
Floridas on the eastern side. Spain had had nothing to 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 413 

do with the making of the treaty in question, and it was 
at least very uncertain whether she would consider herself 
obligated to observe its stipulations concerning the use 
of the Mississippi. By the same instrument the soutliern 
boundary of the new nation was fixed at the thirty-first 
parallel east from the Mississippi as far as the Appalachi- 
cola River, and thence by a slightly irregular line (the pres- 
ent northern boundary of Florida) to the sea. When this 
arrangement was first made Great Britain still considered 
herself in possession of both East and West Florida, and 
hoped to be able to retain these provinces permanently 
under her control. In pursuance of this hope the British 
commissioner had secured the insertion of a secret article 
in the treaty to the effect that if Great Britain should con- 
tinue to hold the Floridas, the boundary between West 
Florida and the United States should not be 31° but 32° 
30'. This line would intersect the Mississippi at the 
mouth of the Yazoo River, near the present site of Vicks- 
burg, instead of at the mouth of the Yassous, nearly fifty 
miles below Natchez, as would the former line. Thus 
Great Britain and the United States virtually recognized 
the northern boundary of West Florida to be 32° 30' so 
far as they were themselves concerned, but agreed that if 
any other power was to have the Floridas such power 
must be content with the region south of 31°.^ 

Ere the end of another twelvemonth the Floridas again 
belonged to Spain. As will be recalled, the retrocession 
came by way of compromise. The Spanish government 

1 See the American commissioners' defence of tliis secret- article, July 
18, 1803, in .John Adams, Works, I. .375, Appendix F. The text of the 
secret article is in the Treaties and Conventions concluded between the 
United States of America and Other Powers, 373. 



/ 



414 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

had been demanding persistently that the English yield 
Gibraltar, and just before peace was effected with America 
the Shelburne ministry had been on the point of acceding 
to the demand. The end of the war with America and 
the French, however, emboldened the ministry in its deal- 
ings with Spain, and the latter power was given to under- 
stand that in no case would England yield more than the 
Floridas. Inasmuch as the Spanish already held the west- 
ern province by reason of Galvez's conquests during the 
war, it was only the eastern that was ceded outright. 

But no sooner was Spain restored to her former pos- 
session in this quarter than the very pertinent question 
arose as to what were " the Floridas " — or rather what 
was " West Florida," for east of the Appalachicola there 
was no doubt on the subject of boundaries. The United 
States claimed all lands southward to 31°. ^ On the ground 
that England in 1763 had established a province of West 
Florida which extended northward to 32° 30', and further 
that in the treaty of retrocession in 1783 the name 
" Florida " was used without qualification, Spain, with 
very good grace, maintained that 32° 30' was properly to 
be considered her division line from the United States. 
And when a little later she became aware of the secret 
article in the Paris treaty by which 32° 30' was distinctly 
recognized as the northern limit of West Florida, her 

1 On the general subject of the Florida boundary, see B. A. Hinsdale, 
"The Establishment of the First Southern Boundary of the United States," 
in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1S93, 
331-306; Charles H. Haskins, "The Yazoo Land Companies," in Papers 
of the American Historical Association, V. 395-437 ; H. E. Chambers, 
" West Florida and its Relation to the Historical Cartography of the United 
States," in the Johns Hopkins University Stiidies in Historical and Po- 
litical Science, 16th Series, No. V. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 178;)-1795 415 

indignation at the ruse of the contracting powers knew 
no bounds. By their own admission, the strip of land 
between 31° and 32° 30' belonged to West Florida ; and 
West Florida now belonged to Spain. England was 
guilty in that she had played Spain false in ceding her a 
region which had in part already been given to another 
power. But the United States was doubly guilty in hav- 
ing received willingly the land which she knew was a 
part of West Florida, and which therefore, by reason of 
Galvez's conquests, was not England's to give away. 
Such was the light in wliich the Spaniards, at least, chose 
to regard the matter. The war spirit ran at high tide, 
and, as John Fiske remarks, once more " Castilian gran- 
dees went to bed and dreamed of invincible armadas." ^ 

So far as the United States was concerned, Spain had at 
her disposal a very easy and effective means of retaliation. 
The peace treaty of 1783 had guaranteed to the subjects 
of Great Britain and to the citizens of the United States 
unrestricted freedom of navigation of the Mississippi 
throughout its entire course. But Spain had not been a 
party to that treaty and, since the territory on both sides 
of the mouth of the river was hers, she was in a position 
to exercise absolute control over all river trade below 31°, 
— indeed, by virtue of her Yazoo claims, below 32° 30'. 
When, therefore, the alleged double dealing of the United 
States with regard to the Florida boundary became known, 
the Spanish government proceeded to threaten. Unless 
the territory in dispute should be promptly and uncon- 
ditionally yielded by the United States, Spain would 
make absolutely no treaty on commercial and kindred 
1 Fiske, Critical Period of Amoriain History, 209. 



416 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

subjects with the young nation, and, moreover, the Mis- 
sissippi below Natchez would be closed to all American 
trade, and any vessel that should venture across the for- 
bidden line would be liable to capture and confiscation. 

To the people of the West and Southwest this latter threat 
presaged a direful contingency. The regions now occupied 
by the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mis- 
sissippi ^ already counted their population by the thousands, 
and settlement from the East was all the while increasing. 
These people were engaged almost entirely in agriculture, 
and their prosperity was dependent upon the facility with 
which they could dispose of their products in the eastern 
states and in Europe. Such sales constituted their only 
means of procuring necessary manufactured articles and 
of accumulating wealth. Transportation by land, how- 
ever, was so slow and so expensive that trade between the 
East and West by way of the Alleghany routes was all 
but impracticable. Even the high prices which western 
products — grain, pork, tobacco, etc. — commanded in the 
eastern markets did not permit of much profit to the pro- 
ducer after expenses of carriage were paid. 

There was, however, one way by which this difficulty 
could be largely overcome, and that was by sending the 
products in barges down the Mississippi to New Orleans 
or the vicinity, reloading them there upon sea-going 
vessels, and thus making shipment by an all-water route 
to the various Atlantic ports. This was the expedient 

1 It should be observed that Georgia's cession of western lands was 
not made until 1802, so that at the time of which we are speaking this 
state owned a vast domain bordering on the Mississippi — the present 
states of Alabama and Mississippi. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 417 

which the Avestern people had come by 1784 almost 
exclusively to employ. The free and unrestricted use of 
the Mississippi, confirmed by the treaty of 1783, was 
therefore a matter of vital consequence. The fact that 
Spain held New Orleans had long been a source of con- 
siderable chagrin on part of the Westerners, and the ac- 
quisition of West Florida by the same power in 1783 had 
occasioned general alarm. Yet it was not until the dis- 
pute arose over the northern boundary of Florida that 
any real inconvenience was suffered. Thereafter trade 
upon the lower Mississippi was entirely at the mere}' of 
the Spanish authorities. At Natchez was established a 
custom-house whose officials boarded every American 
vessel that deigned to pass the town, and while the threat 
of confiscation was not usually put into effect, the traders 
were subjected to the payment of heavy tolls and were 
frequently delayed and annoyed in ways almost intoler- 
able. Besides the inconveniences and losses suffered at 
the hands of the rapacious Spaniards, there was always 
the consciousness, so utterly repugnant to the freedom- 
loving Westerner, that his trade, his gains, indeed, his 
very livelihood, were entirely at the mercy of a Bourbon 
king and his emissaries. There was no way of escape. 
It was not merely the Mississippi's mouth that the Spaniard 
held, but the entire Gulf coast, with all its ports, river- 
mouths, and harbors. Trade by way of Pensacola or Mobile 
would have been no freer than by way of New Orleans. 

The consequence of all this was that, before a year had 

elapsed after the reestablishment of Spanish power in 

Florida, the trade of the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans 

was wrecked. The element of risk was so great and the 

2e 



418 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

losses SO numerous by the Mississippi route, that it had 
become scarcely more practicable than that through Cum- 
berland Gap. By reason of its enforced isolation, the 
Southwest stood in immediate danger of becoming com- 
mercially stagnant. Tobacco which was worth iJ'O.oO in 
Virginia would bring but $2 in Kentucky. Corn, pork, 
flour, and other food products, so abundant in the West 
and so much in demand in the East, were almost valueless 
because of the difficulty of transportation. From the 
people of the Southwest there went up to the Congress of 
the Confederation a ringing appeal for help. The whole 
power of the nation, it was urged, should be directed to 
the task of bringing Spain to terms. The people of the 
West were citizens of tlie United States just as much as 
were the inhabitants of Massachusetts and New York, and 
as such they must be equally protected. Indeed, most of 
the western people had only recently come from the east- 
ern states, and were closely bound to the eastern people by 
many ties even stronger than the political. They were 
now blazing the way of civilization, bearing the brunt of the 
struggle with the wilderness, Indians, and jealous European 
powers. Surely they were not to be cast off by the peoj^le 
of the home states and denied the protecting vigilance of the 
government to which they professed the utmost loyalty. 

But the cry thus raised fell for the most part on ears 
that were deaf.' The people of the states had interests of 
their own to subserve, and many of them were not greatly 
concerned about the prosperity or the tribulations of the 
Westerners. At least, they were not concerned enough to 
sacrifice their own interests for those of Kentucky and 
Tennessee ; and such a sacrifice it would undoubtedly have 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 419 

required to undertake at. the time to open the Mississippi 
again to western trade. By the majority of tlie people of 
the East the right to use the great liver was regarded as 
properly belonging to the Westerners, and the opinion gen- 
erally prevailed that such right should not be hastily or 
needlessly abandoned ; but it was likewise held that peace- 
able relations with Spain were too indispensable to be en- 
dangered by undue persistency with regard to a matter 
which, after all, affected only a relatively small number of 
people. 

The critical character of the situation created in tJie 
West by the Spanish closure of trade was discussed with 
keen perception by Washington in a notable letter to 
Governor Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, October 10, 
1784, in which were set forth observations made during 
a tour of the western country during the preceding Sep- 
tember. Tlie trip, covering a distance of six hundred and 
eiglity miles, had been made on horseback, and though 
somewhat curtailed by a threatened Indian uprising, it 
had been extensive enough to render possible an estimate 
of conditions based on carefully authenticated facts. " I 
need not remark to you, sir," says the letter, " that the 
flanks and rear of the United States are possessed by 
other powers, and formidable ones, too ; nor how neces- 
sary it is to apply the cement of interest to bind all parts 
of the Union together by insoluble bonds, especially that 
part of it which lies immediately west of us, with the 
middle states. For what ties, let me ask, should we have 
upon those people ? How entirely unconnected with them 
shall we be, and what troubles may we not apprehend, if 
the Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain on their left. 



420 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

instead of throwing stumbling-blocks in their way, as they 
now do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance ? 
What, when they get strength, which will be sooner than 
most people conceive (from the emigration of foreigners, 
who will have no particular predilection toward us, as well 
as from the removal of our own citizens), will be the con- 
sequence of their having formed close connections with 
both or either of those powers, in a commercial way ? It 
needs not, in my opinion, the gift of prophecy to foretell. 
" The western states (I speak now from my own ob- 
servation) stand as it were upon a pivot. The touch of a 
feather would turn them any way. They have looked 
down the Mississippi, until the Spaniards, very impoliti- 
cally I think for themselves, threw difficulties in their 
way ; and they looked that way for no other reason than 
because they could glide gently down the stream, without 
considering, perhaps, the difficulties of the voyage back 
again, and the time necessary to perform it in, and because 
they have no other means of coming to us but by long land 
transportations and unimproved roads. These causes have 
hitherto checked the industry of the present settlers ; for, 
except the demand for provisions, occasioned by the increase 
of population, and a little flour, which the necessities of the 
Spaniards compel them to buy, they have no incitements to 
labor. But smooth the road, and make easy the way for 
them, and then see what an influx of articles will be poured 
upon us ; how amazingly our exports will be increased by 
them, and how amply we shall be compensated for any 
trouble and expense we may encounter to effect it."^ 

1 Washington to Benjamin Harrison, October 10, 1784. Sparks, Wash- 
ington''s Writings, IX. 62-63. The letter is reprinted in the Old South 



i 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 421 

111 the early summer of 1785 Don Diego cle Gardoqui, 
the trusted agent of Florida Blanca, arrived as the first 
envoy to the United States from Spain. He presented his 
credentials July 2, and declared that he had been fully 
commissioned to conclude a treaty of amity and com- 
merce.^ After a delay of some months, negotiations were 
opened between him and John Jay, who, since the con- 
clusion of the Paris treaty, had returned to the United 
States, only to find that he had been chosen by Congress 
some months before to succeed Robert R. Livingston in 
the very important office of secretary for foreign affairs.^ 
It was a curious coincidence by which the same two men 
who, five or six years earlier, at Madrid, had wrestled 
unavailingly with the problem of a treaty, were thus again 
pitted against each other in the diplomatic arena. It had 
previously been the purpose of Congress to send Jay to 
Spain on a second mission to arrange a commercial treaty, 
but the coming of Gardoqui rendered such a course un- 
necessary. Full discretionary powers were at first given 
Jay to treat on all subjects of interest to the two nations 
in whatever manner might seem to him advisable ; ^ but 
August 25, 1785, he was more specifically enjoined to 
secure a treaty which should " stipulate the right of the 
United States to their territorial bounds, and the free 
navigation of the Mississippi from the source to the ocean, 
as established in their treaties with Great Britain."^ 

Leaflets, No. XVI., with other significant extracts illustrative of Wash- 
ington's intense interest in the West. 

^ Secret Journals of Congress, III. 563-570. 

^ Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, III. 126. 

* Commission of July 21, 1785. Secret Journals of Congress, III. 571. 

* Secret Journals of Congress, III. 586. 



-122 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Probably Congress could not with dignity have asked for 
less, yet it must have appeared exceedingly doubtful, even 
before tlie negotiations commenced, whether Spain could 
be brought to yield at the same time on both these fun- 
damental matters of dispute an}"- more easily than dur- 
ing the course of Jay's labors at Madrid in 1780-1782. 
At the outset Gardoqui represented that his sovereign, 
Don Carlos III., was well disposed toward the United 
States and sincerely desired amicable relations with her. 
But at the same time it was declared with emphasis that 
the Spanish government would not accede indiscriminately 
to every demand the young nation might care to make. 
Aside from the territorial claim in northern Florida, there 
were two things for which the people of the United States, 
or at least portions of them, were clamoring — a treaty of 
commerce and the reopening of the Mississippi to free 
trade. Of these, said the envoy, Spain would grant one, 
but not both. Between the two the United States might 
choose. A satisfactory treaty of commerce she might have, 
but upon one condition, and one only, i.e. that all claim 
to the right of navigating the Mississippi below Natchez 
be definitely abandoned. The alternative thus offered was 
declared to be absolutely final. A year of painstaking 
negotiation on the subject effected not the slightest change 
in the envoy's position. 

In this proposition from Spain lay all the elements of 
a disastrous conflict between the East and the West. 
The New England states in particular, being interested 
primarily in commerce, zealously urged the making of 
a commercial treaty with Spain, even if such a course 
should involve a sacrifice of tradinsr riofhts on the Missis- 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 423 

sippi. It is doubtful whether the sore straits in which 
such an abandonment of the western people would have 
left them were appreciated at all adequately by the New 
Englauders. The clamor for relief and for protection by 
the nation was commonly supposed to arise from a few 
malcontents, and to be greatly exaggerated as an expres- 
sion of real western sentiment. But it is equally certain 
that the consideration which chielly guided the men who 
were so willing to thwart the Westerners' only hope of 
prosperity was the thought that in so doing they were 
filling their own pockets. At a time when the states, on 
account of boundary disputes and commercial rivalries, 
were on the point of plunging into war among themselves, 
it was hardly to be expected that any great amount of 
sacrifice would be made by the people of New England for 
the benefit of the inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
Of course, on the merits of the case the people of the 
East generally considered the Westerners quite right in 
their contention for the use of the Mississippi, but they 
also regarded it highly inexpedient under existing cir- 
cumstances to press the claim too far. Our present deal- 
ings with Spain were but a matter of choice between the 
greater and lesser of two evils. Since it appeared that 
i either the majority's demand for a commercial treaty or 
the minority's demand for the opening of the Mississippi 
- must be abandoned, men in high station who counted 
themselves friends of every enterprise looking to the 
i prosperity of the West were yet constrained to take 
] the extreme eastern view. Secretary Jay was one of 
, these. In his responsible position he could not but 
desire the continuance of peace and the establishment 



424 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of close commercial relations with all the European 
powers. He was apprehensive lest, if the question of 
the navigation of the Mississippi be allowed to force it- 
self prominently into the negotiations with Spain, that 
question and its kindred issue, the Florida boundary, 
miorht involve the two nations in war : and all risk of 
war must be avoided at any cost. 

Accordingly, on the 3rd of August, 1786, Congress was 
definitely advised by the secretary to consent to the clos- 
ing of the Mississippi for a period of twenty-five years, 
in the hope that by such a concession the desired treaty 
of commerce might be secured. In his speech on this 
occasion Jay enumerated many reasons for concluding an 
amicable settlement with Spain, even if involving terms 
unsatisfactory to the United States. . Among them were 
that France, the ally of the United States, was also an 
ally of Spain, and as between the two the latter alliance 
was probably the stronger ; that England would be glad 
to take advantage of a struggle between Spain and the 
United States; that commercial interests demanded 
friendship with Spain ; that Spain was at the time 
"sincerely disposed to make friends of us"; that the 
navigation of the Mississippi was not then important nor 
likely to be so during the period of the proposed treaty ; 
and that by insisting too strongly on their rights at this 
juncture the United States might lose all claim to the 
navigation of the river in the future. Jay made it clear 
that he did not regard his proposal as an ideal solution, 
but merely as the only one which could be deemed at all 
practicable. Nor did he consider it in any sense final. 
" My letters written from Spain," he asserted, " when our 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 425 

affairs were the least promising, evince my opinion 
respecting the Mississippi, and oppose every idea of our 
relinquishing our right to navigate it. I entertain the 
same sentiments of that right, and of the importance of 
retaining it, which I then did. Mr. Gardoqui strongly 
insists on our relinquishing it. We have had many 
conferences and much reasoning on the subject, not neces- 
sary now to detail. His concluding answer to all my argu- 
ments has steadily been, that the king will never yield 
that point, nor consent to any compromise about it ; for 
that it always has been, and continues to be, one of their 
maxims of policy to exclude all mankind from their Ameri- 
can shores. I have often reminded him that the adjacent 
country was filling fast with people ; and that the time must 
and would come when they would not submit to seeing a 
fine river flow before their doors without using it as a high- 
way to the sea for the transportation of their productions ; 
that it would therefore be wise to look forward to that 
event, and take care not to sow in the treaty any seeds of 
future discord. He said that the time alluded to was far 
distant, and that treaties were not to provide for contin- 
gencies so remote and future. For his part he considered 
tlie rapid settlement of that country as injurious to the 
states, and that they would find it necessary to check it." 
The conclusion to which all these considerations 
brought the secretary was that, under existing con- 
ditions, it " would be expedient to agree that the treaty 
should be limited to twenty-five or thirty years, and that 
one of the articles should stipulate that the United States 
would forbear to use the navigation of that river [the 
Mississippi] below their territories to the ocean." Whether 



426 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Gardoqui would be disposed to agree to such an arrange- 
ment Jay was unable to state, since of course his 
instructions from Congress had not afforded him the 
liberty of advancing such a proposition. He, however, 
thought the experiment worth trying, and this for seyeral 
reasons. In the first place, unless the Mississippi question 
could in some way be settled, there was not the slightest 
possibility of a treaty being concluded. In the second 
place, as Jay put it, " as that navigation is not at present 
important, nor will probably become much so in less than 
twenty-five or thirty years, a forbearance to use it while 
we do not want it, is no great sacrifice." Thirdly, said 
Jay, " Spain now excludes us from that navigation, and 
with a strong hand holds it against us. She will not yield 
it peaceably, and therefore we can only acquire it by war. 
Now as we are not prepared for a war with any power ; 
as many of the states would be little inclined to a war with 
Spain for that object at this day ; and as such a war would 
for those and a variety of obvious reasons be inexpedient, 
— it follows that Spain Avill, for a long space of time yet to 
come, exclude us from that navigation. Why, therefore, 
should we not (for a valuable consideration, too) consent 
to forbear to use what we know is not in our power to 
use ? " Lastly, Jay asked, if Spain and the United States 
should " part on this point," what were the latter to do ? 
They were not capable of war ; there was only the remotest 
possibility that they could gain their end through any new 
international arrangement ; and experience impressed 
strongly the fact that diplomatic opportunities lost in 
dealing with the Spaniards were practically gone forever. 
It was much to be wished that the whole controversy 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 427 

could have been postponed for years, but that was clearly 
out of the question. It must somehow be settled now. 
If it were not, and the United States continued to rebuff 
the Spanish advances by insisting too strongly on their 
rights, unmistakable as they were, the result might be to 
drive Spain into a permanently hostile position where all 
manner of ill treatment would be heaped upon the young 
and defenceless nation. In tliis case "the Mississippi 
would continue shut ; France would tell us our claim to 
it was ill founded ; the Spanish posts on its banks, and 
even those out of Florida in our country, would be 
strengthened; and that nation would there bid us defiance 
with impunity, at least until the American nation shall 
become more really and truly a nation than it at present is. 
For, unblessed with an efficient government, destitute of 
funds, and without public credit, either at home or abroad, 
we should be obliged to wait in patience for better days, 
or plunge into an unpopular and dangerous war with very 
little prospect of terminating it by a peace either advan- 
tageous or glorious." 

The strong feature of Jay's whole contention was that, 
while failing to appreciate the present importance of tlie 
Mississippi navigation, he recognized diplomatic condi- 
tions as they actually existed, and proposed to deal with 
the Spaniards on that basis. If he could not secure what 
he wanted, he would nevertheless take what he could 
get. His declarations had a very pessimistic soulid, to 
be sure, but they were only such as might have been ex- 
pected from a man whose acquaintance with both the 
strength and weakness of the American position was 
as thoroughgoing as was Jay's. When one takes into 



428 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

account the state of the country in 1786, — the weakness 
of Congress, the breakdown of the Articles of Confed- 
eration, the utter wreck of finances, and tlie despicable 
jealousies and enmities of the states, — the reasonable- 
ness of the secretary's policy becomes more apparent. It 
was quite impossible that he should foresee that nearly a 
decade later the whole question of the navigation of the 
Mississippi should reach its first satisfactory settlement 
amicably through the pressure brought to bear upon the 
Spaniards by a treaty which he was himself destined to 
negotiate with Great Britain in 1794. In the course of 
his remarkable address to Congress Jay, recurring to his 
tortuous experiences as a diplomat and foreign minister, 
expressed the opinion that "courts never admit the force 
of any reasoning or arguments but such as apply in their 
favor," and ventured the assertion that " even if our right 
to that navigation [of the Mississippi], or to anything 
else, was expressly declared in holy writ, we should be 
able to provide for the enjoyment of it no otherwise than 
by being in capacity to repel force by force." ^ 

In Congress Jay's proposition to yield the Mississippi 
for twenty-five years aroused a storm of debate. ^ By the 
New England members it was received with unfeigned 
delight, because it foretokened the desired treaty of 
commerce, while the representatives from the South were 
generally opposed. The party lines drawn and the 
arguments employed were of a purely sectional character. 
The New Englanders demanded that the Spanish treaty be 
negotiated immediately on the terms Jay suggested, or in 

^ Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 51-52. 

2 For the numerous motions and proposals which the consideration of 
Jay's report elicited in Congress, see the Secret Journals, IV. 81-127. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OE THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 429 

truth upon any others that might prove necessary. By 
them it was contended with good reason that the evil 
conditions so prevalent throughout the country were in 
a large measure due to the stagnation of trade. To ener- 
gize trade, treaties were essential, and a treaty with Spain 
was especially to be desired. If, as Jay said, in order 
to secure such a treaty the navigation of the Mississippi 
must be given up, why so let it be. On the other hand, 
the members from the southern states, who were more 
interested in the "-back country," expressed a decided 
unwillingness to accept such a solution of the matter. 
They saw visions of Spanish power in the West which 
were at least not reassuring. Commercial treaties were 
not of so great importance to the people south of the 
Potomac, and therefore the policy advocated by the 
Northerners in their own interest met with scant support 
outside New England and New York. " Was it reason- 
able, such was the language of some noted Southerners, to 
demand so great a sacrifice from one section of the country 
for the benefit of another ? Massachusetts seemed to think 
it very hard that the South would not fall in with Spain ; 
would not sell the affections of her western colonies ; throw 
away her richest possessions ; distrust an ally able and will- 
ing to befriend her ; and court, by the most precious sacri- 
fices, an alliance with a power whose impotency was' noto- 
rious. But what would Massachusetts say to a proposition 
to give up to Great Britain her right of fishery as the price 
of some stipulation in favor of tobacco ? " ^ 

The culminating point of the discussion in Congress 
elicited by Jay's proposal for the temporary closure of the 
^ McMaster, History of the People of the United States, I. 378. 



430 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Mississippi was reached August 30, when as a result of 
much debate and repeated voting upon motions and 
amendments, the following definite resolution was brought 
before the body for its acceptance or rejection : " Resolved, 
that the secretary to the United States for the department 
of foreign affairs be and hereby is instructed to propose, 
and if possible to obtain the following stipulations, viz.. 
That the citizens of the United States shall not be inter- 
rupted in transporting the bona fide productions of the 
United States upon the Mississippi River, from thirty-one 
degrees north latitude to the city of New Orleans, where 
they shall be allowed to land the same, and permission be 
granted them to occupy storehouses and other necessary 
buildings for the reception thereof. That the boats or 
other vessels, on board of which the said productions shall 
have been transported to New Orleans, shall have free 
leave to return up the Mississippi River to any place 
within the territory of the United States ; provided that 
so fa^r as they navigate below thirty -one degrees north 
latitude, they shall not load any species of goods, wares, 
or merchandise whatsoever, but by permission of the 
Spanish government in Florida. That American mer- 
chants or factors shall have free leave to reside at New 
Orleans for the purpose of receiving such American pro- 
ductions as may be brought down the said river Mississippi, 
and for exporting the same from thence in American or 
Spanish bottoms under the regulations of the respective 
countries. That a duty not exceeding two and a half per 
cent ad valorem shall be paid to tlie crown of Spain, upon 
all American produce shipped from the same city of New 
Orleans, in American bottoms, within six months after 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 431 

sucli exportation, for which good and sufficient bonds 
shall be given previous to the departure of any vessel on 
board of which such produce shall be laden. That 
American vessels may freely navigate up the said river 
]\Iississi})pi, from the mouth to the said city of New 
Orleans, but shall not carry any species of goods, wares, 
and merchandise whatever, contrary to the regulations of 
the crown of Spain, under pain of seizure and confiscation. 
That if in the course of his negotiation with the encargado 
de negocios ^ of his Catholic Ma4es^ty, it shall be found 
indispensable for the conclusion of the same, that the 
United States and their citizens, for a limited time, should 
forbear to use so much of the river Mississippi as is south 
of the southern boundary of the United States, the said 
secretary be and hereby is authorized and directed, on 
behalf of tlie United States, to consent to an article or 
articles stipulating on their part and that of their citizens, 
a forbearance of the use of the said river Mississippi, for 
a period not exceeding twenty years, from the point where 
the southern boundary of the United States intersects the 
said river to its mouth or the ocean ; provided, that such 
stipulation of a forbearance of the use of the said river 
for a limited time, as aforesaid, shall not be construed to 
extinguish the right of the United States, independent of 
such stipulation, to use and navigate the said river from 
its source to the ocean." ^ It was further provided in the 
resolution that in no case should the exclusive Spanish 
navigation of the river below 31° be conceded if tlie 

1 This was GardoquPs official title. It was more modest than that of 
minister, though its bearer was vested with practically all the powers of a 
minister. 2 ^gcivj Journals of Congress, IV. 120-121. 



432 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Spaniards should attempt to hinder American trade above 
that parallel, and that no treaty should be signed by the 
secretary which did not expressly yield the Spanish claim 
to the belt of land between 31° and 32° 30' along the 
north Florida border. 

Upon this proposition, Pinckney, of South Carolina, de- 
manded the yeas and nays, with a result which shows in 
a most conclusive manner the purely sectional character 
of the controversy. When the vote was taken there were 
upon the floor of Congress twenty-nine delegates, repre- 
senting all of the thirteen states except Delaware. Voting 
was of course by states, and in order that the proposed new 
instructions be issued, nine of these must concur in their 
favor. The vote stood seven affirmative and five negative. 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
cut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — all the 
New England and middle states represented — made up 
the majority ; while Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, and the 
two Carolinas, under the peculiar system of the Confeder- 
ation, were able to defeat the measure. It is further 
worthy of note that the states voted solidly ; that is, there 
was not a single instance in which the vote of a state 
was dissented from by a minority member of the delega- 
tion.^ The general result might have been prophesied 
with considerable assurance, but the clear-cut character of 
the division was one more revelation of that startling domi- 
nance of sectional over national interests which threatened 
the complete subversion of the tottering Union. 

In the West Jay's proposition was received with an 
outbreak of righteous indignation. During the two years 
1 For the vote, see Secret JonrnaU nf Conr/ress, IV. 122-123. 



IS THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 433 

since the arrival of the Spanish minister the western 
hatred of the Spanish power had been steadily increasing. 
Only a few weeks before Jay's recommendation was made, 
an incident had occurred which more than anything else 
thus far operated to swell the grievance of the Westerners 
beyond the point of endurance. Thomas Amis, an enter- 
prising and reckless North Carolina trader, ventured 
down the ]\Iississippi below the Spanish line with a flat- 
boat laden with a cargo of flour, domestic utensils, and 
agricultural implements, which he expected to dispose of 
to the Spanish settlers near the river's mouth. When he 
reached Natchez, however, he was stopped by the author- 
ities, and his goods brought to land. Both boat and 
cargo were confiscated. With what they characterized as 
rare generosity, the officials permitted Amis to return in 
freedom to the states. ^ After a long and exhausting 
journey overland, the unfortunate trader at length found 
himself again among the settlers of Kentucky. It may 
be assumed that the tale which lie had to recount lost 
nothing in the telling. Wherever he went he was at 
once the object of boisterous sympathy, and the occasion 
of a violent burst of wrath against the Spaniard. As a 
recent writer has said, " No pilgrim returning from the 
Holy Land, showing the stripes which had been inflicted 
on him by the Turks, aroused more indignation than did 

1 The pass given to Amis by the lieutenant-colonel at Natchez, Don 
Carlos de Grandpri, is given in the Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 326. 
It was dated August 29, 1780, and declared that during Ami.s's detention 
he had " behaved himself as a gentleman and man of the strictest honour." 
Amis's oath "on the holy evangelist of Almighty God," in which he 
declared his losses before a North Carolina justice of the peace, is in the 
Secret Journals, IV. 325. 



434 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Amis with his story." And occurrences of the sort were 
all the time becoming more frequent. 

Little is it to be wondered at, therefore, that when the 
news was borne to the West that Congress was meditating 
an acceptance of the closure of the Mississippi for twenty 
or twenty-five years (if indeed a treaty to that effect had 
not already been made)^ the Westerners were not long in 
arriving at the conclusion that it was useless longer to trust 
to national protection, and that the time had come for them 
to take the matter into their own hands. George Rogers 
Clark was placed in command of some hastily raised 
troops, and a general policy of reprisal upon the Spanish 
was adopted. Under Clark's order a store belonging to a 
Spaniard at Vincennes was looted and the owner forced to 
flee down the river.^ The Indians were everywhere ex- 
horted to seize and hold any Spanish property they might 
find. The Kentuckians petitioned the Virginia legislature 
for relief, and anonymous letters setting forth the sad state 
of the Westerners were circulated throughout the East. 
Many of these letters threatened the reestablishment 
of British control in the West unless the government of 

1 For quite a while it was believed in the West that a treaty had been 
concluded. See an extremely interesting letter by Thomas Green to the 
governor, council, and legislature of Georgia, written at Louisville, Decem- 
ber 23, 1786, in which the indignant Kentuckian goes on to say: "The 
commercial treaty with Spain is considered to be cruel, oppressive, and 
unjust. The prohibition of the navigation of the Mississippi has aston- 
ished the whole western countiy. To sell us and make us vassals to the 
merciless Spaniards, is a grievance not to be borne. Should we tamely 
submit to such manacles, we should be unworthy the name of Ameri- 
cans, and a scandal to the annals of its history," Secret Journals of 
Congress, IV. 315-317. 

2 For Jay's report to Congress on the subject of Clark's reprisal, see 
the Secret Joxirnals of Congress, IV. 301 et seq. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 435 

the United States should speedily perform its duty of 
protection. 

One of these anonymous letters, written by a gentleman 
at tlie falls of the Ohio (Louisville) to his friend in New 
England, under date of December 4, 1786, is so striking 
as to have won a place in the Secret Journals of Congress, 
and as an intelligent expression of western sentiment at 
the time is worthy of very careful consideration. The 
writer of it shared the belief, very prevalent in the back 
country in the latter part of 1786, that Congress had 
actually concluded a commercial treaty with Spain, and 
at the behests of the New Englanders had paid for it by 
an abandonment of the navigation of the Mississippi. 
"Dear Sir," begins the letter, "Politicks, which a few 
months ago were scarcely thought of, are now sounded 
aloud in this part of the world, and discussed by almost 
every person. The late commercial treaty with Spain, in 
shutting up, as it is said, the navigation of the Mississippi 
for the term of twenty-five years, has given this western 
country a universal shock, and struck its inhabitants with 
an amazement. Our foundation is affected ; it is there- 
fore necessary that every individual exert himself to apply 
a remedy. To sell us and make us vassals to the merciless 
Spaniards, is a grievance not to be borne. The parlia- 
mentary acts which occasioned our revolt from Great 
Britain were not so barefaced and intolerable. To give 
us the liberty of transporting our effects down the river 
to New Orleans, and then be subject to the Spanish laws 
and impositions, is an insult upon our understanding. 
We know by woful experience that it is in their power, 
when once there, to take our produce at any price they 



436 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

please. Large quantities of flour, tobacco, meal, etc., 
have been taken there the last summer, and mostly con- 
fiscated. Those who had permits from their governor 
were obliged to sell at a price he was pleased to state, 
or subject themselves to lose the whole. Men of large 
property are already ruined by their policy."^ 

The writer then proceeds vigorously to upbraid the 
New Englanders who are considered primarily responsible 
for the government's supposed abandonment of the West. 
"What benefit can you on the Atlantick shores receive 
from this act ? The Spaniards from the amazing resources 
of this river can supply all their own markets at a much 
lower price than you possibly can. Though this country 
has been settling but about six years, and that in the 
midst of an inveterate enemy, and most of the first 
adventurers fallen a prey to the savages, and although 
the emigration to this country is so very rapid that the 
internal market is very great, yet the quantities of 
produce they now have on hand are immense. Flour 
and pork are now selling here at twelve shillings the 
hundred ; beef in proportion ; any quantities of Indian 
corn can be had at nine pence per bushel. Three times 
the quantity of tobacco and corn can be raised on an acre 
here that can be within the settlement on the east side of 
the mountains, and with less cultivation. It is therefore 
rational to suppose that in a very few years the vast 
bodies of waters in those rivers will labor under immense 
weight of the produce of this rich and fertile country, 
and the Spanish ships be unable to convey it to market. 
Do you think to prevent the emigration from a barren 
1 Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 320-321. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE iMISSISSIPPI, 1783-1705 437 

country loaded with taxes and impoverished with debts, 
to the most luxurious and fertile soil in the world ? V^ain 
is the thought, and presumptuous the suiDposition. You 
may as well endeavor to prevent the fishes from gathering 
on a bank in the sea which affords them plenty of nourish- 
ment. Shall the best and largest part of the United 
States be uncultivated, a nest for savages and beasts of 
prey ? Certainly not. . . . Shall all this countiy now 
be cultivated entirely for the use of the Spaniards ? Shall 
we be their bondmen as the children of Israel were to 
the Egyptians ? Shall one part of the United States be 
slaves, while the other is free ? Human nature shudders 
at the thought, and freemen will despise those who 
could be so mean as to even contemplate on so vile a 
subject." 

And now comes the point of the whole argument — the 
threat of an armed uprising, and the consequent possibility 
of a separation of the West from the United States. " We 
can raise twenty thousand troops," says the writer, "this 
side the Alleghany and Appalachian mountains ; and the 
annual increase of them by emigration from other parts 
is from two to four thousand. We have taken all the 
goods belonging to the Spanish merchants of post Vin- 
cennes and the Illinois, and are determined they shall not 
trade up the river, provided they will not let us trade 
down it. Preparations are now making here (if neces- 
sary) to drive the Spaniards from their settlements at the 
nKjuth of the Mississippi. In case we are not counte- 
nanced and succored by the United States (if we need it) 
our allegiance will be thrown off", and some other power 
applied to. Great Britain stands ready with open arms 



438 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

to receive and support us. They have already offered to 
open their resources for our supplies. When once reunited 
to them, 'farewell, a long farewell, to all your boasted 
greatness.' The province of Canada and the inhabitants 
of these waters, of themselves, in time, will be able to 
conquer you. You are as ignorant of this country as 
Great Britain was of America. These hints, if rightly 
improved, may be of some service ; if not, blame your- 
selves for the neglect."^ 

The negotiations with Gardoqui went steadily forward, 
but yet with slight show of real progress. With every 
passing month it was clearer that the cause of the Western- 
ers was gaining in the states. The Virginia legislature, 
while condemning Clark's reprisal at Vincennes, voted 
unanimous sympathy with the people of the back country. ^ 
Madison's great influence had been won over to their side. 
While the New Englanders were as persistent as ever, 
the people of the middle states were turning toward the 
southern view. Under the Articles of Confederation the 
consent of nine states was necessary to the ratification of 
any treaty, and by the middle of April, 1787, when Jay 
made another comprehensive report to Congress on the 
state of the negotiation with Spain, it was evident that such 
a majority could never be secured in support of any agree- 
ment to yield the navigation of the Mississippi River, even 
for a limited term of years. Jay had drawn up an article 
making such a concession, but it was never in any great 



1 Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 320-323. The letter is printed in 
Lyman, Diplomacy of the United States, I. 232-234, note. 

2 Documents pertaining to Virginia's action are in the Secret Journals 
of Congress, IV. 305-328. * 



I 



[X THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 439 

danger of being accepted. ^ With respect to the navigation 
di the Mississippi, Jay said in his report that he and Gar- 
:loqui had " had repeated conversations wliicli produced 
nothing but debate, and in the course of which we did not 
idvance one single step nearer to each other. He con- 
tinued, and still continues, decided in refusing to admit 
LIS to navigate the river below our limits on any terms or 
conditions, nor will he consent to any article declaring 
)ur rights in express terms, and stipulating to forbear 
'he use of it for a given time.''''^ Jay made it clear that in 
bis proposal to compromise with Spain by yielding the 
navigation of the lower Mississippi for a specitied number 
Df years his purpose was " to save the right and only sus- 
pend the use " during the term of the treaty. But the 
problem of bringing Congress to the adoption of this plan 
kvas rendered quite irrelevant by the fact that when it was 
aid before Gardoqui he flatly rejected it, and once more 
ieclared emphatically that the Spanish policy was to 
ixclude Americans, as well as all other peoples, from the 
Grulf of Mexico, absolutely and permanently. " A variety 
3f circumstances and considerations which I need not 
mention," says Jay in concluding his report, " render this 
negotiation dilatory, unpleasant, and uncompromising ; 
md it is much to be wished that the United States could 
jointly and unanimously adopt and pursue some fixed and 
stable plan of policy in regard to Spain, especially during 
the residence of Mr. Gardoqui, who, I do verily believe, is 

1 This proposed article is in the Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 
298-299. 

2 Report dated April 11, 1^87, Correspondence and Public Papers of 
Tohn Jay, III. 240. Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 297-301. The 
•eport was read before Congress, April 13. 



440 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

sincerely disposed to do everything useful and acceptable 
to America that his instructions and the essential inter- 
ests of his country, as understood by him and his master, 
will permit." ^ 

Seven days after Jay's report was made, Madison moved 
in Congress that Jefferson be sent from Paris as minister 
plenipotentiary to Spain to " enter into commercial stipula- 
tions" and to "make representations" on the questions of 
Florida and the Mississippi.^ One of the most heated con- 
troversies in the history of Congress ensued. But nothing 
tangible came of it — except still more conclusive proof 
that a treaty with Spain was at the time wholly impossible.^ 
Spain still contended for the closure of the Mississippi as a 
sine qua non, and the number of states which would any 
longer support a treaty on that basis was steadily decreas- 
ing. During the next two years the interests of all the 
states was centred upon the making and the ratification of 
the Constitution. In the hope of increased powers of the 
central government and of added facilities for the conduct 
of foreign relations, the question of the Spanish treaty, 
along with many other kindred matters, was allowed to 
fall into abeyance. Conditions in the West continued as 
unsettled as ever ; but the prospect of a reorganized 
government served to eke out the patience of the people 
somewhat, and loyal relations with the Union were fairly 
well maintained. By vote of Congress, September 16, 
1788, Jay's commission to negotiate was revoked, and the 

^ Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, III. 243. 
2 Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 339. 

^ See Jay's argument against transferring the negotiations back to 
Madrid, ibid., 338-342. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSirri, 1783-1705 441 

settlement of the whole affair was passed on to the new 
government under tlie Constitution. At the same time 
a resolution was enthusiastically adopted that " the free 
navigation of the river Mississippi is a clear and essential 
right of the United States, and the same ought to be con- 
sidered and supported as such."i This final expression 
of opinion by the old confederate Congress marked an 
advance in national sentiment which augured well for the 
new government to be organized the following March. 

Meanwhile an unscrupulous adventurer by the name of 
James Wilkinson, a Marylander who had settled in Ken- 
tucky in 1784, was working out a solution of the prob- 
lem in a method peculiarly his own. The failure of 
Clark in the so-called Wabash expedition for the capture 
of Vincennes in 1786 had left Wilkinson probably the 
most popular and influential man in the West. No one 
understood better than he, however, that in order to retain 
popularity among the Westerners incessant activity and 
bold deeds were all the time necessary. No possible 
achievement would go so far in this direction as the 
opening of the Mississippi to the trade of the Kentuckians 
and their fellows, and with the most consummate ambition 
Wilkinson proceeded to address himself to this great 
task, which even the government of the nation had thus 
far failed to accomplish. His first step was to test the 
temper of the Spanish authorities by sending a flatboat 
loaded with food-stuffs down the river to Natchez. When 
the barge reached this point it was stopped and examined, 
but when the commandant learned whose craft it was, he 
decided to allow it to pass without tolls or confiscation. 
^ Secret Journals of Congress, IV. 447. 



442 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

He knew something of Wilkinson's influence in the West 
and was afraid of war if the soldier-merchant should 
be treated with disrespect. At New Orleans, however, 
the intendant, Martin Navarro, knew nothing of Wilkin- 
son and little of the temper of the Kentuckians, and 
was on the point of confiscating the cargo when an 
influential merchant of the city who was aware of Wilkin- 
son's reputation besought the governor, Miro, to inter- 
vene lest a war with the Americans be precipitated. The 
merchant gave Miro to understand that the Kentuckians 
were on the verge of making an expedition against New 
Orleans to open the Mississippi, and urged that no action 
be omitted to ward off such a calamity. The strong 
influence of Wilkinson was alleged to be a reason why he 
should be treated with peculiar consideration. Miro was 
fully persuaded of the wisdom of this view, and gave 
orders that Wilkinson's goods be allowed to be sold free 
of duty. In a short time Wilkinson presented himself at 
New Orleans, sought out his merchant advocate and 
obtained an interview with Miro, represented with the 
most consummate bravado that he was the specially com- 
missioned agent of Congress, and brought the Spanish 
authorities to believe that only by yielding to him what- 
ever he might ask could they avert certain war with the 
United States. The result was that Miro and Wilkinson 
struck a bargain by which the latter was to do all that 
he could to win the people of Kentucky to friendship 
with the Spanish, and in return he was to be afforded a 
safe market at New Orleans for all the flour and tobacco 
he could send thither. Soon after Wilkinson's return to 
Kentucky he was approached by Colonel Connally, of the 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 443 

British army, a man who had gained a most unsavory repu- 
tation in the war of Lord Dunmore in 1774, with a phm to 
join the Kentuckians with the British in an expedition for 
the conquest of Spanish Louisiana. ^ But the prospect of 
wealth which the recent compact with Miro had opened up 
was too tempting to be thus thrust aside, and Connally 
was frightened into withdrawing to his post at Detroit. 

Wilkinson now prepared a great trading expedition to 
New Orleans. Enormous quantities of flour, bacon, to- 
bacco, butter, and hams were collected at Louisville and 
stored on tw^enty-five flatboats, each bearing the Kentucky 
colors and carrying a swivel gun or a three-pounder for 
defence, ready for the voyage. Early in January, 1789, 
" amid the shouts and blessings of the whole town," the 
flotilla started. The popularity of Wilkinson was at its 
highest pitch. " He was looked on as a great deliverer. 
He had opened the Mississippi. He had made a market, 
and emptied countless rude warehouses and barns, where 
for three years the kindly fruits of the earth had been 
stored up, and where, but for him, they might have 
stayed till they were eaten by rats and worms, or become 
foul from decay." ^ No sooner was Wilkinson's expedi- 
tion well under way than dozens of other traders hastened 
to follow his example. Lideed, so many barges were 
fitted out for the lower Mississippi trade that by the 
spring of 1789 the price of food in some of the Kentucky 
counties had risen sixty per cent.^ But despite all this 

1 Letter of Arthur St. Clair to John Jay, December 13, 1788, in 
William H. Smith, St. Clair Papers, II. 101. 

2 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, I. 523. 

^ Letter dated Marietta, March 10, 1790, Freeman'' s Journal, May 12. 
1790. 



444 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the question of the navigation of the Mississippi was by 
no means settled. Because of jNIiro's pledge, Wilkinson's 
cargoes were treated considerately, but those of the other 
traders met their accustomed fate. Miro's promise of 
protection was merely a personal one to Wilkinson, and 
carried absolutely no immunity for the merchandise of 
other Westerners. And as time went on and the chi- 
canery by which AVilkinson had wrung his concession 
from the Spanish governor came to be understood at New 
Orleans, even his prerogatives passed into airy nothing- 
ness. Within a twelvemonth the status of trade on the 
lower Mississippi was precisely what it had been before 
Wilkinson appeared on the scene.^ 

It must always be remembered to the credit of Thomas 
Jefferson that he was one of the first public men, not him- 
self a Westerner, to appreciate the real importance, not 
merely to the West, but to the nation at large, of main- 
taining inviolate the right to navigate the iNIississippi. 
As early as August 2, 1790, after the Washington admin- 
istration was well under way, and when the work of 
adjusting our foreign relations was seriously undertaken. 
Jefferson, as secretary of state, wrote a letter to William 
Carmichael, the American charge d'affaires at the court of 
INIadrid, instructing him to impress the Spanish ministry 
thoroughl}'^ "with the necessity of an early and even an 

1 On Wilkinson's operations in the Southwest at this time, see Roose- 
velt, The Winning of the West, III. 123-152; McMaster, History of the 
People of the United States, I. 520-524 ; Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, 
III. Ch. V. ; and Martin, History of Lotiisiana, II. 91-110. By far the 
most important original source of information on the career of Wilkinson 
is his Memoirs of my Own Times [Philadelphia, 1816], in three volumes. 
The period under present consideration, however, is passed over very 
lightly. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 445 

immediate settlement of this matter."' Negotiations 
were not to be opened, however, unless as a prelimi- 
nary consideration the complete freedom of navigation 
of the Mississippi should be conceded. The securing of 
this concession was to be followed by a demand for "a 
port where the sea and river vessels may meet and ex- 
change loads, and where those employed about them may 
be safe and unmolested." The immediate urgency of the 
matter was thus emphasized : " It is impossible to answer 
for the forbearance of our western citizens. We endeavor 
to quiet them with an expectation of an attainment of 
their ends by peaceable means. But should they, in a 
moment of impatience, hazard others, there is no saying 
how far we may be led ; for neither themselves nor their 
rights will ever be abandoned by us.''^ In 1787 Jeffer- 
son had written to Madison, " The act which abandons 
it [the Mississippi] is an act of separation between the 
eastern and the western country. "^ The acknowledged 
purpose of Jefferson, now that he stood at the head of the 
foreign department of the new government, was to secure 
New Orleans, together with the island on which the city 
is located, as the desired place of deposit. His opinion 
was, however, that Spain should not be asked at the out- 
set to make so great a concession, but should rather be 
gradually familiarized " by reason and events " with the 
nature and force of the American demand. 

In December, 1791, it was intimated to the secretary of 
state by a Spanish commissioner that his Catholic Majesty 

1 .Jefferson to Carmichael, August 2, 1790, American State Papers, For- 
eign Relations, I. 247 ; Jefferson'' s Works (ed. by Washington). III. 17.3. 

2 Jefferson to Madison, January .30, 1787, Jefferson's Works, II. 87. 



446 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

had become willing to make some arrangement with the 
United States respecting the use of the Mississippi, pro- 
vided the negotiation be carried on at Madrid.^ Jefferson 
strongly recommended to the President that advantage be 
taken of this overture without delay, and that Carmichael 
and some other capable man be designated to undertake 
the task of securing a favorable treaty on behalf of the 
United States. The suggestion appealed favorably to 
Washington, and under date of January 11, 1792, Car- 
michael and William Short, American charge d'ajfaires at 
Paris, were nominated " to be commissioners plenipoten- 
tiary for negotiating and concluding, with any person or 
persons who shall be duly authorized by his Catholic 
Majesty, a convention or treaty concerning the navigation 
of the river Mississippi by the citizens of the United 
States." 2 On the further recommendation of Jefferson, 
the scope of the negotiation was widened to include the 
two other cardinal issues between the United States and 
Spain — the Florida boundary and the regulation of com- 
merce.^ In a remarkable state paper transmitted by Jef- 
ferson to the President, March 18, 1792, embodying 
" observations on the subjects of negotiation, to be com- 
municated to the commissioners of the United States," the 
American argument in behalf of the free navigation of the 
Mississippi was stated with rare cogency under three dis- 
tinct heads, i.e. the treaty of Paris of 1763, the treaty at 
the close of the Revolution, 1782-1783, and the law of na- 
ture and nations.* To summarize his points in the brief- 

^ Jefferson to Washington, December 22, 1791, in the American State 

Papers, I. 251. 2 jj^ia.^ 131. 3 /5,-(^.^ 134. 

* This significant document is in the American State Papers, I. 252- 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 447 

est possible way, Jefferson maintained, (1) that the people 
of the English colonies in America, as British subjects, 
acquired by the treaty of 1763 unrestricted, rights on all 
parts of the Mississippi's course, and that these rights 
were held in common by all the colonies ; (2) that Gal- 
vez's conquests during the Revolution could not legally 
affect the conditions of navigation on the lower Missis- 
sippi, since New Orleans had all the time been in Spanish 
hands since 1763, and, furthermore, that the continuous 
rights of the English-speaking Americans could not be 
interrupted by the mere fact that they had seen fit to 
throw off the sovereignty of Great Britain ; and (3) that, 
on broad grounds, the law of nature and nations prescribed 
that the ocean should be free to all men, and the rivers to 
all who dwelt upon them. This last point, being more 
vague and disputable than the others, was fortified with 
copious references to Grotius, Pufendorf, and other recog- 
nized authorities on international law. It was finally 
recommended as a sine qua non, and Carmichael and Short 
were so instructed, that the American " right be acknowl- 
edged of navigating the Mississippi, in its whole breadth 
and length, from its source to the sea, as established by 
the treaty of 1763." 

The American commissioners were received at the court 
of Madrid early in February, 1793. From the outset, 
however, the prospect of a successful negotiation was 
dark, and this for two reasons. In the first place. Count 
d'Aranda had Ijeen succeeded in the office of prime min- 
ister by Don Manuel Godoy, the Duke of Alcudia, who at 

257. Considerable portions of it are quoted in Lyman, The Diplomacy 
of the United States, I. 236-241. 



448 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

this stage was by no means so conciliatory as he was to be 
a few years later, and who appointed as the Spanish com- 
missioner that veteran in the business of tantalizing the 
Americans — Diego Gardoqui. Moreover, a change in 
the status of Spanish foreign relations in Europe operated 
against the negotiation. Better feeling existed between 
Spain and England, while, on the other hand, all possi- 
bility of French intervention on behalf of the interests of 
the United States was ruined by an early declaration of 
war by the French republic against Spain. After ac- 
quainting themselves with every aspect of the situation, 
the commissioners came to the conclusion that at such a 
time by pressing for a hearing they would but work in- 
jury to their cause. Their instructions bound them to 
certain definite and pretty rigid lines, and they were not 
long in perceiving that the new Spanish ministry was in 
no mood for considering with the least degree of favor the 
only terms they had been empowered to offer. They 
therefore adopted a general policy of procrastination, from 
which there was no danger whatever of their being stirred 
by the temporizing Gardoqui. In the course of time the 
home government, aroused by Spanish intrigues in the 
Southwest, sought to energize its representatives at Ma- 
drid ; but, though the latter once got so far as to lay the 
American claims before Godoy, absolutely no progress was 
made in respect to the great objects of their mission. The 
only point gained was a vague statement from Godoy to 
the effect that the Spanish had no intention of interfering 
with the operations of the United States to reduce the 
Southwestern Indians to order. The commission was 
finally dissolved by the return of Carmichael from Madrid 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 449 

to the United States. Short remained as charge d'affaires^ 
but was disliked by Godoy and had no chance to render 
his country any service of importance. ^ 

Meanwhile Jefferson's favorite policy of " familiarizing " 
the Spaniards gradually with the new American regime and 
its greater efficiency in international affairs was occupying 
a good deal of time, and the people of the West were again 
becoming very restive under their commercial restraints. 
The swarm of officials with whom it was necessary to deal 
in order to use the Mississippi grew both larger and more 
arrogant. They were spoken of by the tradesmen as worse 
than the subjects of the Dey of Algiers — a comparison 
particularly expressive in the last decade of the eighteenth 
century. Every packet which sailed down the river with 
goods for an Atlantic port ran the risk of being confis- 
cated entire as sOon as it crossed the line 32° 30'. If it 
escaped this, the gauntlet which had to be run was yet 
formidable. The vessel was sure to be stopped at New 
Madrid,^ boarded, and searched, and the captain compelled 
to purchase a pass on which he might proceed to New 
Orleans.^ This place reached, the entire cargo must be 

1 Much documentary material on the mission of Carmlchael and Short 
Is contained in a communication by President Washington to Congress, 
April 15, 1794, in the American State Papers, I. 432-446. For general 
accounts, see Trescot, The Diplomatic History of the Administrations of 
Washington and Adams, 226-233 ; Lyman, The Diplomacy of the United 
States, I. 236-251 ; and Schuyler, American Diplomacy, 271-274. 

2 This was a small settlement on the Mississippi which was the sole 
representation of a fantastic scheme entered into by Colonel George Mor- 
gan, a New Jersey trader, and the Spanish envoy, Gardoqui, to set up an 
elaborate Spanish principality in the territory above Natchez. See Roose- 
velt, ITie Winning of the West, III. 140. 

8 An interesting description of one of these passes is In the American 
Daily Advertiser, August 24, 1793. 
2a 



450 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

landed on the levee and a duty of fifteen per cent ad 
valorem paid. The goods could not be sold at the port, 
but must be reloaded, and for this another duty of six 
per cent was charged. Thus more than one-fifth of the 
value of the cargo had to be paid in duties to the Spanish 
officials, not to mention the great loss of time and other 
annoyances involved. 

Just at the time when these troubles became most acute 
the West was thrown into a state of fomentation by the 
outbreak of the French Revolution. The new Spanish 
governor at New Orleans, Baron de Carondelet, soon had 
all he could do to restrain the enthusiasm for "liberty, 
equality, and fraternity " which broke out among the 
French population of Louisiana in consequence of the fall 
of the Bastile and the revolutionar}^ events which followed 
in such bewildering succession in the French capital. 
The conditions with which Carondelet had to contend in 
order to prevent an uprising against the rule of the Bour- 
bons are indicated by a letter to his home government in 
which he says, " By extreme vigilance, and by spending 
sleepless nights, by scaring some and punishing others, by 
banishing a number, particularly some newcomers from 
France who were debauching the people with their repub- 
lican teaching, by intercepting letters and documents sus- 
pected of being incendiary, and by prevaricating with 
everybody, I have done better than I had expected, as the 
province is now quite orderly and quiet. "^ To the inhab- 
itants of Kentucky and Tennessee, however, the disturbed 
conditions in Louisiana and the difficulty which Carondelet 
was having in keeping down the excitable French seemed 
1 Gayarr6, History of Louisiana, III. 330. 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 451 

to designate this as the most fitting occasion for a demon- 
stration of force in defence of their rights on the Missis- 
sippi. To take advantage of the preoccupation of the 
Spanish authorities and compel an unequivocal recognition 
of commercial privileges hitherto denied seemed obviously 
the part of wisdom. In 1793 Citizen Genet landed in tlie 
United States as the representative of the recently estab- 
lished French Republic, and at once proceeded to fit out 
privateers for the war against England and in numerous 
other ways violate the neutrality which President Wash- 
ington had so wisely proclaimed. The wild enthusiasm 
with which Genet was received by the more democratic 
element of the country spread like wildfire across the 
AUeghanies, and very soon the people of the Southwest 
were burning anew with indignation at the neutral policy 
of the Administration in the war, and at the failure of the 
government thus far to relieve their commercial situation, 
and with hatred, too, for both England and Spain, who 
were in alliance now against France. Emissaries sent 
out by Genet made capital of the commercial question and 
easily determined the Westerners to wage war at once 
upon tne Spaniards in Louisiana.^ 

The leader for the movement was easily found in 
George Rogers Clark, who now proposed to expatriate 
himself and turn his back upon the government which 
he felt, with some justice, had been unappreciative of his 
earlier efforts. Clark was commissioned major-general 
in the service of the French Republic, and at once pro- 
ceeded to raise troops, under the additional title of " Com- 

^ Frederick J. Turner, " The Origin of Genet's Projected Attack on 
Louisiana and theFloridas," in the American Historical Eeviev:, III. No. 4. 



452 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

mander-in-Chief of the French Revolutionary Legions on 
the Mississippi." His avowed purpose was to capture the 
Spanish posts on the Mississippi and open the river to free 
trade. There was no attempt to conceal the preparations, 
and knowledge of them soon reached both the Spanish at 
New Orleans and the United States authorities at Phila 
delphia. It would be difficult to determine in which 
quarter the news caused the greater alarm. Washington 
and the Federalist leaders were greatly concerned because 
the movement, headed by Clark, seemed to be so entirely 
spontaneous, so unmistakably representative of the stand 
which the western people as a whole were ready to take. 
Democratic societies througliout the West were busy pass- 
ing resolutions condemning the government for its in- 
activity, and declaring that the time had indeed come 
for the people of the West to take the whole matter of 
dealing with the Spaniards into their own hands. Gov- 
ernor Shelby, of Kentucky, when requested by the Admin- 
istration to prevent the carrying out of Clark's plans, was 
forced by public sentiment to evade the order and to cause 
as much delay as possible by entering into a tedious con- 
sideration of the constitutional powers involved. 

After all, though, there was vastly more talk than 
action. The number of actual volunteers was small. 
To leave home and other interests and go on a crusade 
of extermination against the Spaniard was a very differ- 
ent matter from assembling in Democratic clubs, and, 
under the spell of wild enthusiasm, passing inflammatory 
resolutions against "the wicked Dons." Governor St. 
Clair, of the Northwest Territory, forbade the citizens of 
that region to take part in any sort of filibustering 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 453 

expedition; and Governor Blount, of Tennessee, made it 
understood that any persons under his jurisdiction who 
should join Clark's force would " lay themselves liable to 
heavy Pains and Penalties, both pecuniary and corporal, 
in case they ever returned to their injured country." 
When, in 1794, Genet was recalled in disgrace, the move- 
ment in the West, for which he had been so largely 
responsible, was greatly discredited. The firm attitude 
of Governors St. Clair and Blount, and the building of a 
fort near the mouth of the Ohio by General Wayne, to 
prevent the Clark exiDedition by force, caused the final 
collapse of the whole affair. ^ 

The Spaniards seem not to have been long alarmed by 
the threatened invasion of Clark. They were too well 
pleased with the prospect of a final separation of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee from the United States greatly to 
deprecate the movement, even though directed against 
themselves. They probably felt that, while Clark's ex- 
pedition would temporarily embarrass them, yet it would 
lead in the end to the extension of Spanish power to 
the Ohio — a consummation to be attained the more 
readily because Spain had the free navigation of the 
Mississippi to hold out as a bribe to the inhabitants of 

1 On the threatened war with the Spaniards, see W. H. English, The 
Conquest of the N'orthicest, II. Ch. XX. ; Gayarre, History of Louisiana, 
III. Ch. VI. ; Winsor, The Westioard Movnnent,C^^- XXIII.; Roosevelt, 
The Winning of the West, IV. Chs. III. and IV. ; Thomas M. Green, Tlie 
Spanish Conspiracy: a lievieio of Early Spanish Movements in the 
Southwest; and N. P. Langford, "The Louisiana Purchase and Preced- 
ing Spanish Intrigues for Dismemberment of tiie Union," in the Minne- 
sota Historical Society Collections, IX. 453-508. Documentary materials 
are in the American State Papers, Foreign lielations, I. 454-400, and the 
Americaii Historical Review, II. No. 3 and III. No. 3. 



454 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

those regions. At any rate, tlie Spaniards by no means 
appreciated the efforts of the United States government 
to prevent the execution of Chirk's plans. Carondelet 
even ordered Wayne's fort on the Ohio to be destroyed. 

When the confusion incident to Genet's mission and 
its western sequel was cleared away, relations between 
the Westerners and the Spaniards became substantially as 
they had been before. The people of the West had most 
fortunately been saved from the complication that must 
have resulted had they played into the hands of the 
French, but their good fortune in this respect was not 
yet very apparent. One thing was settled, as the West- 
erners felt. The government had refused to allow them 
to vindicate their rights, hence now it was the undeniable 
obligation of the government itself to do the work. In 
the cry for relief which now arose louder than ever, it 
was by no means difficult to detect an undertone of 
threat. The Democratic Society at Lexington resolved to 
demand that the federal government adopt such means 
as would instantly give to the people of Kentucky the 
free use of the Mississippi. The population south of the 
Ohio represented a confused medley of economic and 
political views, but upon one point it was solidly united, 
i.e. that the Mississippi must be opened and kept open. 
And by 1794: the further sentiment had come to be very 
generally concurred in that the government must meet 
the Westerners' demands in this matter as the price of 
their continued allegiance. 

The impatient and uncompromising tone of the western 
appeal warned the Administration that, if redress were not 
speedily forthcoming, the anti-Spanish crusade which had 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-179G 455 

been so seriously threatened under the inspiration of 
Genet's agents might actually be undertaken. To avert 
the direful consequences of such a contingency, the efforts 
which had been making toward a diplomatic adjustment 
were redoubled. In November, 1794, Thomas Pinckney, 
of South Carolina, was nominated by Washington for the 
post of envoy extraordinary to the Spanish court. ^ He 
was instructed to make every possible effort to secure a 
settlement of the Mississippi question on such terms as 
"would conciliate the disaffected Westerners. When, in 
June, 1795, Pinckney arrived in Spain, he found conditions 
more favorable for the negotiation than they had been 
at any previous time. Spain had been unsuccessful in 
the war with France, and the alliance w^ith England was 
unpopular. Through the strategy of the prime minister, 
Don Manuel Godoy, the Spanish government had unex- 
pectedly extricated itself from the struggle by a peace 
signed at Bale in July, 1795. This peace was so popu- 
lar that the people immediately hailed Godoy with the 
title by which he was ever afterward known — the Prince 
of Peace. The reputation given him by the treaty of 
Bale made Godoy covetous of more glory of the same 
character. Among better-informed Spaniards the feeling 
had become strong that a war with the United States was 
almost inevitable, but the Prince of Peace now set him- 
self to the task of relieving his country from any such 
danger. The arrival of Pinckney offered the desired 
opportunity, and Godoy let it be known at once that 
Spain was at least walling to negotiate on all the sub- 
jects in dispute with the United States. After some 
1 American State Papers, Foreign Relations, I. 469. 



456 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

weeks of discussion, and only after he had demanded his 
passports, October 24, in disgust with the evasive, delay- 
ing policy of the Spanish government, Pinckney finally 
secured the surprisingly liberal treaty of San Lorenzo el 
Real, signed October 27,4795.1 

This treaty was properly a treaty only of boundaries 
and navigation ; it contained no commercial stipulations. 
The northern limit of Florida was fixed, as the United 
States demanded, by a line "beginning on the river 
Mississippi, at the nortliernmost part of the thirty-first 
degree of latitude north of the equator, which from 
thence shall be drawn due east to the middle of the river 
Appalachicola, or Catahouche ; thence along the middle 
thereof to its junction with the Flint ; thence straight to 
the head of St. Mary's River, and thence down the middle 
thereof to the Atlantic Ocean." The fourth article of the 
treaty yielded full rights of navigation of the Mississippi, 
as follows: "It is likewise agreed that the western boun- 
dary of the United States, which separates them from 

1 The text of the treaty is in Treaties and Conventions between the 
United States and Other Powers (revised edition), 776-784, and Lyman, 
Diplomacy of the United States, I. 253-258. Pinckney's successive reports 
on the course of the negotiation, including a copy of the treaty, are in the 
American State Papers, Foreign Belations, I. 533-549. The seventh chap- 
ter of Lyman's book contains an excellent account of the negotiations. 
See also Schuyler, American Diplomacy, 265-281 ; Winsor, The Westivard 
Movement, Ch. XXIV.; B. A. Hinsdale, "The Establishing of the First 
Southern Boundary of the United States," in the Annual Peport of the 
American Historical Association for 1893, 331-366 ; H. E. Chambers, 
" West Florida and its llelation to the Historical Cartography of the 
United States," in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical 
and Political Science, 16th Series, No. V. ; Trescot, The Diplomatic His- 
tory of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, Ch. IV. ; Pitkin, 
History of the United States, II., Ch. XXIIL ; Charles C. Pinckney, Life 
of General Thomas Pinckney; and George E. Rives, "Spain and the 
United States in 1795," in the American Historical Review, IV. 62-80. 



XI THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1705 457 

the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the 
channel, or bed, of the river Mississippi, from the north- 
ern boundary of the said states, to the completion of the 
thirty-iirst degree of latitude north of the equator. And 
his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the naviga- 
tion of the said river, in its whole breadth, from its source 
to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citi- 
zens of the United States, unless he should extend this 
privilege to the subjects of other powers by special con- 
vention." Concerning the desire of the United States 
for a place of depositing goods brought down the river on 
flatboats, and awaiting shipment on ocean-going craft, the 
treaty contained the following (Article XXII.) : "And, in 
consequence of the stipulations contained in the fourth 
article, his Catholic Majesty will permit the citizens of the 
United States, for the space of three years from this time, 
to deposit their merchandises and effects in the port of New 
Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying 
any other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores; 
and his Majesty promises either to continue this permission, 
if he finds, during that time, that it is not prejudicial to the 
interests of Spain ; or if he should not agree to continue it 
there, he will assign to them, on another part of the banks 
of the Mississippi, an equivalent establishment." 

Probably the main consideration which prompted Godoy 
to make a treaty with the United States, and to agree to 
terms which were liberal beyond expectation, was his 
desire to offset the treaty which Jay had negotiated with 
England during the preceding year. That treaty was 
regarded with great disfavor, not only by European 
powers, but by a very large element of the people of the 



458 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

United States, because it was represented, however wrong- 
fully, as having been made in a spirit of abject subservi- 
ence to England. Nevertheless, Godoy feared that since 
the Jay treaty was so vigorously upheld by the Federalist 
Administration it would lead to an alliance of the United 
States and England, which might in turn mean the rees- 
tablishment of British control in the Mississippi Valley. 
Besides, just at the time that the news of the Jay treaty 
reached Godoy, Spain's relations with England were very 
much strained, and the wily prime minister felt that the 
good will of the people of the United States was emi- 
nently to be desired. Had he foreseen the storm of dis- 
approval which the Jay treaty was yet to arouse in the 
United States, or had he really understood the Adminis- 
tration's position in the matter, he would have felt under 
less constraint to neutralize the treaty's British jDropensi- 
ties by a shower of Spanish favors. It was fortunate for 
the long-wearied Kentuckians and Tennesseeans that he 
did not wait longer to watch developments before seeking 
actively to win their friendship. ^ 

The Spanish treaty was so acceptable that it was ratified 
by the United States Senate practically without opposi- 

1 In anticipation of what will be said in a later chapter it may be ob- 
served here that the Spanish government soon came to regret the liberality 
of the treaty of 1795. On one pretext or another Natchez, and other Mis- 
sissippi posts between 31° and 32° 30', were held by Spanish troops more 
than two years longer. Curiously enough, the Jay treaty, which had gone 
so far toward insuring the success of Pinckney's negotiation, became 
ostensibly the main obstacle to the execution of the treaty which it had 
rendered possible. The third article of the Jay treaty contained the pro- 
vision that " the river Mississippi shall, . . . according to the treaty of 
peace, be entirely open to both parties," i.e. England and the United 
States. In May, 1797, the Spanish government made formal protest 
against this clause, on the groiind that according to her own treaty with 
the United States in 1795 the right of free navigation of the Mississippi 



IX THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 1783-1795 459 

tiou. After more than a decade of border quarrels, in- 
cipient invasions, and fruitless negotations, the Spanish 
restrictions upon western trade were removed. The ques- 
tion had, indeed, been a most serious one, perilously involv- 
ing the very iutegrit}' of the Union. For a time the diverse 
economic interests of the East and West threatened as 
direful a disaster as similarly diverse interests of North 
and South occasioned three-quarters of a century later. 
The merits of the controversy between Westerner and 
Spaniard are not so easily determined as might appear. 
Of course the Spanish attempt to monopolize the lower 
^lississippi would be thoroughly reprehensible if judged 
by standards of to-day. But conditions a hundred years 
ago were different. Barring cruel and unnecessarily an- 
noying methods employed, the Spaniards, in forbidding 
free navigation of that part of the Mississippi which lay 
wholly within their territories, were well within the bounds 
of the international practice of their time. In Europe the 
Rhine tolls were not abolished until 1804, and the Con- 
gress of Vienna in 1815 opened the other great rivers of 
western Europe to free navigation. The Danube was not 
opened until 1856. International jurists are not yet at all 
agreed as to the right of closing river navigation in cases 
similar to that of the Mississippi, and it may be of interest 
to observe that it was not until the treatv of Washington, 
as late as 1871, that the lower St. Lawrence opened un- 
reservedly to the free use of United States citizens. 

belonged exclusively to her own subjects and the citizens of the American 
nation. England was declared to have lost all right to such navigation in 
1783. and after that date no nation except Spain could confer it upon 
another. The question of British navigation of the river, however, wa.s 
no longer a crying one, and the Spanish objection was allowed to lapse. 



CHAPTER X 

NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 

THE signing away of her colonial empire in 1763, 
although accompanied by an outward show of in- 
difference, was really the deepest humiliation France had 
ever experienced. That England was the chief gainer by 
the transaction was hardly calculated to reconcile the 
loser. Turgot's aphorism to the effect that colonies are 
like fruits which cling to the stem only until they are 
ripe, with its implied prediction that the newly acquired 
possessions of England would in due season establish 
their independence, was after all rather barren of solace 
for a people whose imperial ambitions had been as great 
as those of the eighteenth-century French. Except nega- 
tively, the contingent dissolution of England's empire 
could not compensate France for the loss of hers. The 
increasing evils of the Bourbon regime, the impoverish- 
ment of the people, the exhaustion of the national re- 
sources, and the traditional inferiority of the French upon 
the sea seemed utterly to preclude an early regaining of 
any of the forfeited possessions. Certainly France would 
not soon again enjoy the prestige in India which had for- 
merly been hers; and it was even more sure that she 
would experience the greatest difficulty in winning for 

460 



CHAP. X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 461 

herself a second time the magnificent region between the 
Alleghanies and the Mississippi in America. 

However, it was not the yielding of possessions in India 
or the eastern Mississippi Valley that occasioned the keen- 
est regret. The arbitrament of war liad rendered these 
cessions to England wholly unavoidable. To lament their 
loss and to dream of their recovery were equally idle. 
Under pressure considerably less imperative, however, 
the vast territory west of the Mississippi and east of the 
Rocky Mountains had been given to Spain in this same 
year in recognition of her alliance in the recent struggle 
and in compensation for her loss of the Floridas to Eng- 
land. And it was this act that the French government, 
almost before the treaty had been signed, began to regard 
as violable and to plan to undo. 

Hope for the speedy recovery of the Louisiana territory 
was rendered the more reasonable by the close relationship 
of the Bourbon monarchs of the two nations and by the 
comparative subservience of the Spaniard. It was known, 
moreover, that Spain was not yet very strongly attached 
to her recent acquisition and that she had no definite plan 
for its exploitation and settlement. It was but natural to 
conclude that, the Spanish court being more greedy for 
gold than for lands, a sufficient financial consideration 
would easily induce a retrocession. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, the payment of the cash, such as would have been 
tempting to the Spaniard, was positively forbidden by the 
condition of the French treasury. Scarcel}' could current 
expenses be met, without any such appropriation as the 
regaining of Louisiana would demand. During the closing 
years of the reign of Louis XV, conditions in this respect 



462 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

grew worse rather than better, and it was not until the 
Count de Vergennes became Louis XVI. 's minister of 
foreign affairs that it was deemed worth while to make 
an avowed effort toward the recovery of Louisiana. This 
was in the days of the American Revolution, when France 
was enjoying sweet revenge at England's expense, and 
when her relations with Spain were once more those 
of a close ally. At the end of the war the two powers 
endeavored jointly to rob the Americans of the full fruits 
of their success by limiting the possessions of the states 
to the lands east of the Alleghanies. Due to American 
vigilance and England's preference for neighbors of her 
own blood and speech along the Great Lake frontier, 
France and Spain were frustrated in this scheme. Ver- 
gennes tried at this time to purchase Louisiana for the 
French, but he could not offer a sum satisfactory to the 
Spanish king. There can be little doubt that, failing 
in this, the French ministers then became so ardent in 
championing the aggressive territorial schemes of their 
southern neighbor in America, chiefly because they still 
expected their country some day to fall heir to the Span- 
ish dominions along the Mississippi. 

Years passed, and the Revolution came on in France. 
Throughout that terrible struggle the project of the revival 
of the empire, and particularly of the recovery of Louisi- 
ana, was never wholly lost to view. In the summer of 
1795, when the treaty of peace was signed at Bale be- 
tween the French Republic and the Spanish king, the 
commissioners of the Republic endeavored to secure a 
retrocession of the coveted territory, but failed — again 
only because of inability to pay the price asked. By this 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 463 

same treaty, however, Spain ceded to France the eastern 
part of St. Domingo (Hayti).i The western part of the 
island had been possessed by the French since 1697, and 
under the Bourbon monarchy had constituted their most 
important foreign colony. The importance of the island, 
aside from its abundant natural resources, and the fact 
that two-thirds of the commercial interests of the French 
l)rior to the Revolution had centred there, lay in the fact 
that it constituted the most practicable base of operations 
in enterprises affecting the American continent. In 
view of the English supremacy in the seas in that 
quarter, and also because of the threatened rebellion of 
the natives under the chieftain Toussaint Louverture, 
French tenure promised for a time to be so hazardous 
in Hayti that only the name of sovereignty was assumed 
in 1795.^ 

Within six months after the treaty of Bale the con- 
stitution of 1795 had been put in operation, and the 
government had been organized under the executive 
control of the five Directors. It was the ambition of the 
Directory, not merely to conserve the domestic results of 
the Revolution, but also to realize the fond dream of a 
revived colonial empire. To this latter end the Louisiana 
negotiations were earnestly renewed. In 1797 Don Car- 
los IV., king of Spain, was made a tempting offer — not 
indeed in the shape of gold, but in that of very valuable 

1 Martens, Becueil des Principaux Traites conclus par les Puissances 
de r Europe, VI. 124-128. 

2 On conditions prevailing in St. Domingo, see Adams, History of the 
United States, I. 378 et seq., and E. W. Gilliam, "The French Colony of 
San Domingo : Its Rise and Fall," in the Magazine of American History, 
XX. 471-470. 



464 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

lands.^ It was proposed that in payment for Louisiana 
three fair districts recently wrung by French arms from 
the Pope should be united with the Duchy of Parma, and 
the whole should be given under the name of a principality 
to a son of the present Duke of Parma, who was also the 
son-in-law of the Spanish king. The proposition was of 
course in the nature of a bribe whereby Don Carlos was 
to secure the advancement of his daughter's interests by 
simply resigning the sovereignty of Louisiana to France. 
Had the lands thus offered represented the losses of any 
other power than the papacy the bargain would probably 
have been closed at once. But Don Carlos was an earnest 
devotee of the church. Virtuous in private life, unosten- 
tatious in manners, and industrious beyond any of his 
courtiers, he stood far above the average of his people in 
the finer qualities of character, and exhibited a combina- 
tion of religious profession and genuine piety altogether 
too rare among those by whom he was surrounded. The 
Directors had miscalculated their man. With so sacri- 
legious a bargain as they proposed he would have nothing 
to do. Much as he cared for his daughter, and read}^ as 
he would have been under other circumstances to part 
with Louisiana for her sake, he declared he could never 
be betrayed into bargaining for the lost possessions of St. 
Peter. Having nothing else to offer, the Directors were 
forced temporarily to acknowledge their plans thwarted. 

In July, 1797, the foreign policy of the Directory was 
given a fresh stimulus by the elevation of Charles Maurice 
de Talleyrand to the office of minister of foreign affairs. 

1 Memoires du Prince de la Paix, III. 23. The "Prince of Peace" 
was Don Manuel Godoy, prime minister of Spain from 1792 to 1708. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 465 

Talleyrand was in many respects a remarkable man and 
had before him a remarkable, if not a very admira- 
ble, career. Trained for the church, he had from early 
life indulged such laxity of morals that the only ground 
upon which he can be said to have won his way to the 
bishopric of Autun was his unexcelled administrative 
ability. He had been prominent in the early days of 
the Revolution, being despatched to England in 1792 to 
secure recognition for the new Republic ; but before re- 
turning he was warned that his name had been placed on 
the list of those " disposed to serve the king " — or, in 
other words, that he had unwittingly become an emigre. 
He remained in England until February, 1794, when the 
Alien Bill forced his departure. He went thence to the 
United States, where he spent about a year in travel and 
study of American republicanism. The result of this 
visit was to strengthen him in the conviction that France 
had nothing to expect from the United States, and that the 
regaining of Louisiana was her only hope of preventing 
the growth of another great English nation across the 
Atlantic. At the end of the Reign of Terror he returned 
to France to become in time the chief coadjutor of Napo- 
leon and altogether the shrewdest, subtlest, and most un- 
principled diplomat of his day.^ 

1 There are numerous biographies of Talleyrand, and editions of his 
voluminous correspondence. Among these the most noteworthy are Lady 
Charlotte Julia Blennerhassett, Life of Talleyrand^ 2 vols., translated 
from the German by Frederick Clarke ; Charles K. McHarg, Life of 
Prince Talleyrand, tcith Extracts from his Speeches and Writings; A. 
Marcade, Talleyrand, Pretre et cheque; Bernard de Lacombe, Talley- 
rand, lSveq\ie d'' Autun ; the Due de Broglie, Memoires du Prince Charles 
Maurice de Talleyrand, 5 vols., translated by Raphael Ledos de Beau- 
2h 



466 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

When Talleyrand assumed the office of foreign secre- 
) tary his course of action, so far as America was concerned, 
was already determined. He would at all hazards restore 
French authority in the valley of the Mississippi. His 
first approaches to the Spanish government on this subject 
were made through Citizen Guillemardet, whom he sent 
as minister to Madrid in May, 1798. Guillemardet was 
instructed first of all to upbraid the Spanish for evacuat- 
ing certain posts on the Mississippi (Natchez was the 
most important), as they had engaged themselves to do 
by their treaty with the United States in 1795. "The 
court of Madrid," wrote Talleyrand in his instructions, 
"ever blind to its own interests, and never docile to the 
lessons of experience, has again quite recently adopted a 
measure which cannot fail to produce the worst effects 
upon its political existence and on the preservation of its 
colonies. The United States have been put in possession 
of the forts situated along the Mississippi which the 
Spaniards had occupied as posts essential to arrest the 
Americans in those countries."^ 

Guillemardet was instructed to urge upon Don Carlos 
and his ministry that every consideration rendered it 
extremely ill-advised to make any concession to the 
Americans, whose undoubted aim it was ultimately to 
control the entire continent themselves. " Moreover," 
continued Talleyrand, " their conduct ever since the 
moment of their independence is enough to prove this 

fort; G. Pallain, Le Ministere de Talleyrand sous le Directoire ; and 
Pierre Bertrand, Lcttres InedUes de TaUeijrand a Napoleon, 1S00-1S09. 

1 " Instructions donnfies au Citoyen Guillemardet, Prairial, An VI." 
(May 20-June 19, 1798), Archives des Affaires Etrang^res. Quoted in 
Adams, History of the United States, I. 350. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 4r,1 

truth : the Americans are devoured by pride, ambition, 
and cupidity ; the mercantile spirit of the city of London 
ferments from Charleston to Boston, and the Cabinet of 
St. James directs the Cabinet of the Federal Union. 
. . . There are no other means of putting an end to 
the ambition of the Americans than that of shutting them 
up within the limits which Nature seems to have traced 
for them." And now the writer came to the point. 
" But Spain is not in a condition to do this great work 
alone. She cannot, therefore, hasten too quickly to en- 
gage the aid of a preponderating Power, yielding to it a 
small part of her immense domains in order to preserve 
the rest. . . . Let the court of Madrid cede these dis- 
tricts \_onli/ Louisiana and the Floridas were asked] to 
France, and froi}i that moment the power of America is 
bounded by the limit which it may suit the interests and 
the tranquillity of France and Spain to assign her. The 
French Republic, mistress of these two provinces, will be 
a wall of brass forever impenetrable to the combined 
efforts of England and America. The court of Madrid 
has nothing to fear from France." 

But this splendidly audacious demand was thwarted by 
a series of events beyond tlie power of Talleyrand to con- 
trol. A])out the same time that Citizen Guillemardet 
began to interview the Spanish ministry Napoleon set out 
for Egypt with the intention of establishing French 
control in that quarter and thus threatening England's 
intercourse with India and the East. Lord Nelson fol- 
lowed with the English fleet, and on the 1st of August, 
1798, attacked and totally destroyed the French fleet at 
Abukir Bay. Napoleon's connections witli France being 



468 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

now entirely cut otT. the Egyptian campaign was an 
acknowledged failure. No one realized this as keenly as 
did Napoleon himself. He won a brilliant victory over 
the INIaniclukes in the battle of the Pyramids, gained 
control of the basin of the Nile, and invaded Syria, but 
in the face of all his successes loomed up the fact that his 
army was imprist)ned without hope of escape. Napoleon 
was not the man to waste time in such a situation, and 
therefore, since the army could not be transported back 
to France, he resolved to leave it in Egypt and return 
alone to the field of action in Paris, where discontent with 
the failures of the Directory was reported to be daily 
increasing. August 22, 1799, he managed to run the 
English blockade, and on October 9 landed with a few 
attendants at Erejus.^ 

The Egyptian disaster only reenforced the policy of 
delay adopted by the Spanish ministry in dealing with 
the Louisiana question. Already Spain had been prac- 
tically driven by France to declare war against England, 
and it was becoming all the time more apparent tliat tlie 
Directory's plans involved the continued use of Spain as 
a tool both in Europe and xVmerica. The liberality of 
the Spanish treaty with the United States in 1795, to- 
gether with Spain's efforts to execute its terms in good 
faith, so exasperated Talleyrand and the Directors that 
war between France and Spain was for a while imminent. 
To avert such a casualty the Spanish prime minister, Don 

1 On Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, see the Due de Broglie, Memoirs 
of Prince TaUei/rand, I. 108; R. W. Pliipps (ed.), Memoirs of Xapoleon 
Bonaparte, by Lonis Antoine Fauvcht de Bourrienne, I. Chs. XV.-XXI. ; 
W. M. Sloane, Xapoleon Bonaparte, II. Chs. V.-IX. ; and Pierre Lanfrey, 
History of Xapoleon the First, Chs. X. and XI. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 469 

Manuel Godoy, retired temporarily i'roin the ioici<^ii oilice 
in March, 1798. The vexatious delay in securing the 
treaty of San Lorenzo el Real has all but obscured from 
American eyes the honorable but perilous efforts which 
Spain iiiaih; during the following two ov three years to ful- 
fil her part of the contract. When Napoleon returned to 
France, in 1799, it could not Ijc disguised that Guillemar- 
det's mission to procure Louisiana had failed completely. 
Meanwhile the Directory had Ijcen on the verge of war 
with the United States. As the eiglitcenth century drew 
to an end the strong friendship which had been engendered 
between America and France during the former's war for 
independence fast melted away. At the outbreak of the 
French Revolution in 1789 the sympathies of the people 
of the United States were quite generally with the revo- 
lutionists. But when the movement for liberty so soon 
degenerated into a mere carnival of ciimc and Ijloodshed, 
tlie sensibilities of the Americans, as indeed of sane and 
law-abiding people everywhere, suffered a rude shock. 
Sympathy gave place in many quarters to burning in- 
dignation. Presuming unduly on the friendship of 
the American people, and professing to believe that the 
young nation was bound irrevocably to her by the treaty 
of alliance of 1778, France had shown no hesitancy in 
demanding open assistance from the United States in the 
war which she declared against England early in 179'j; 
and linding no aid forthcoming and meeting only with 
an official proclamation of neutrality, she had thereafter 
maintained such irritating relations with the United 
States that by the time the Adams Administration was 
well under way war between the two powers seemed 



470 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

inevitable. Incensed by the Jay treaty with England, 
the French government had refused, early in 1797, to 
receive Charles C. Finckney, appointed by Washington to 
succeed Monroe as minister at Paris. Then followed the 
sending of the commission composed of Pinckney, Mar- 
shall, and Gerry, the well-known incident of the X. Y. Z. 
papers, the suspension by Congress of the French trea- 
ties, the hastening of preparations for war, and finally 
a considerable number of captures of French vessels by 
the Constellation^ the Boston, the Enterprise, and other 
American ships. ^ The spirit manifested by the Ameri- 
cans was so determined that the Directory, having al- 
ready on its hands in Europe more military enterprises 
than it could properly attend to, promptly backed down 
and humbly communicated to President Adams that, if 
another minister should come to Paris, he would be fit- 
tingly received. Contrary to the popular desire and the 
advice of such men as Washington, Hamilton, and Secre- 
tary Pickering, Adams at once resolved to stay the course 
of war by sending another commission of three — Oliver 
Ellsworth, William Vans Murray, and W. R. Davie. 
When they arrived at Paris they found a new govern- 
ment in power and one disposed to meet them more than 
halfway in negotiating a peace. 

Bearing the blame for the Directory's failure to prose- 
cute the American war, Talleyrand was forced to retire 
from the foreign office July 20, 1799. His favorite 
scheme of recovering Louisiana from Spain had received 

^ McMaster, History of the People of the United States, II. Cli. X. ; 
Morse, John Adams, Ch. XI. ; Magruder, John Marshall, Ch. VIII. ; 
Schouler, History of the United States, I. Ch. IV, 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 471 

a severe blow. The fiasco in Egypt and the virtual sur- 
render to the United States liad robbed France for a while 
of the prestige upon which the wily minister had been de- 
pending to overcome Don Carlos. When Talleyrand left 
the foreign office there seemed little reason to expect that 
within less than fifteen months the whole Louisiana terri- 
tory would have become once more French. But such 
was to be the case, largely because a greater than Talley- 
rand was about ready to put his hand to the enterprise. 

Upon his return from Egypt Napoleon was received 
with the wildest enthusiasm. His recent failure was for- 
gotten, and only his earlier victories and his promises of 
future successes were remembered. Borne up by popular 
adoration, he lost little time in setting aside the feeble 
Directory by the coup d'etat of the eighteenth Brumaire 
(November 9, 1799) and having himself created First 
Consul.^ It was with this government, headed by Napo- 
leon, that the second commission appointed by President 
Adams was called to treat. Already the young Corsi- 
can's plans were large, but they did not embrace a war 
with the United States. Accordingly a treaty, that of 
iNIorfontaine (more commonly known as the convention of 
1800), was negotiated, whereby the United States was 
released from all obligations under the French alliance of 
1778, in return for which France was impliedly relieved 
from all responsibility for captures of American vessels 
and goods during the pending conflict with England. ^ 

1 The Due de Broglie, Memoirs of Prince Talleyrand, I. 203-210 ; 
Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte (ed. by R. W. Phipps), I. 
Ch. XXIV. ; Lanfrey, History of Napoleon the First, I. Ch. XII. ; and 
Sloane, Napoleon Bonaparte, II. Ch. X. and XI. 

2 Martens, Secueil des Principaux Traites conclus par les Puissances 



472 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

By the summer of 1800 Napoleon was well established 
in the office of First Consul, which meant that he was 
well started on the road to imperial supremacy. The 
victory over the Austrians at Marengo in June of that 
year had amply vindicated those who even in the midst 
of the Egyptian disappointment had still protested that 
France had not for many a day seen such a military 
genius as Napoleon. Great plans and magnificent visions 
were then being entertained by the young man of thirty- 
one, and the policies of the most remarkable career of 
modern times were rapidly taking shape. Methods of 
internal administration for France, schemes for the con- 
solidation of Europe under French control, and ambitions 
for the revival of a world-wide French colonial empire were 
all busying the Consul's indefatigable brain. We may be 
assured that among these varied interests the last occu- 
pied no subordinate position. Although affairs in France 
and in Europe were naturally more immediately urgent, 
it appears that throughout the earlier portion of his career 

de V Europe, VII. 96 et seq. The text of the treaty, in English, is in 
Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of America 
and Other Poioers (first printed as Senate Exec. Doc. No. 36, 41st Cong., 
third sess.), 266-275. On the treaty and the circumstances leading to it, 
see Lyman, The Diplomacy of the United States, Ch. VIII. ; McMaster, 
History of the People of the United States, II. Ch. X. ; Schouler, History 
of the United States, I. Ch. IV. ; Morse, John Adams, 265-287, and 
Thomas Jefferson, 173-193 ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, 
VII. Ch. VII. ; Trescot, Diplomatic History of the Administrations of 
Washington and Ada7ns, Ch. III. ; Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, 194-221 ; 
and Emanuel Spencer, "Napoleon Bonaparte and Peace with America," 
in the Magazine of American History, XXVI. 298-301. Among numer- 
ous original sources may be mentioned the Annals of Congress, VII.-X. ; 
the American State Papers, Foreign Relations, II. ; John Adams, Works, 
VIII., IX. ; Life and Correspondence of Ritfas King, II. ; and Thomas 
Jefferson, Writings, IV. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 473 

Napoleon was always stirred to his mightiest efforts by 
his dreams of a great French dominion beyond the seas.^ 
Probably not the least consideration which induced him 
to restore Talleyrand, after the eighteenth Brumaire, to 
the office of secretary of foreign affairs was the latter's 
well-known sympathy with the policy of colonial revival. ^ 

In July, 1800, Napoleon began his efforts at French 
aggrandizement in America by ordering Talleyrand to 
despatch to Citizen Alquier, the French minister at the 
court of Spain, authority to make a treaty for the recov- 
ery of Louisiana. This proposition, as we have seen, was 
by no means a new one. It had been repeated in sundry 
forms and at varying intervals ever since 1763. But 
never before had the demand for retrocession been backed 
by a man of such force as Napoleon, and with his attempt 
in this direction it seemed not at all improbable that the 
time for a reestablishment of French power in America had 
come. By way of compensation for Louisiana, Alquier 
was directed to renew the promise of an aggrandizement 
of the Duchy of Parma which Talleyrand on his own ini- 
tiative had made three years before.^ 

In obedience to his instructions, Alquier hastened to 
confer with the Spanish foreign minister, Seiior Urquijo, 
and to lay before him Napoleon's offer in such a manner 
as to make it very plain that a prompt and unconditional 
acceptance was expected. In fact, Urquijo was boldly 

1 William M. Sloane, " Napoleon's Plans for a Colonial System," in 
the American Historical Review, IV. No. 3. 

2 In view of Talleyrand's unpopularity Napoleon deemed it best not to 
offend the public by restoring him at once to the position " naturally due " 
him. Reinhard, the foreign secretary at the time of the coup (Vetat, was 
retained in office for a short time. (Jorrespondance de NapoUon Premier, 
XXX. 330. 8 ji^icl., VI. 415. 



474 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

told to reject the offer "if he dared." Under the press- 
ure of Alquier's threats the cautious Spaniard speedily 
signified his willingness that the retrocession be made, 
but explained also that his own attitude in the matter 
would count for little unless the king could be won over 
to the plan.i 

Alquier was not lacking in certain elements of shrewd- 
ness so becoming in the diplomat at all times, and par- 
ticularly when working in the service of a Napoleon. 
He knew full well that the queen, Doiia Maria Luisa, 
herself from Parma, would be strongly appealed to by 
the prospect of an increase of her daughter's titles and 
dominions, and thei'efore it was to the queen rather than 
to the king that he first addressed Napoleon's offer. Sure 
enough, Doiia Maria was greatly pleased, and all her influ- 
ence was readily thrown on the side of Alquier in bring- 
ing the king to the point of acceptance. The desired 
result was achieved sooner than could have been expected. 
For the sake of his daughter, and at the entreaties of his 
wife, Don Carlos agreed to give up Louisiana — and with 
it, presumably, the religious scruples which had troubled 
him on the former occasion. It was even with enthusiasm 
that the project was approved. Both king and queen 
were loud in their praises of the generosity of Napoleon, 
and that the wily First Consul was entirely sincere in his 
verbose protestations that the bargain was primarily for 
Spain's good, neither seems for a moment to have doubted. 
Don Carlos gave every evidence of being entirely con- 
vinced that the representation which Alquier made in the 
following note was sound : " The progress of the power 
1 Adama, History of the United States, I. 364-365. 



X NAPOLEON AND THP: LOUISIANA COUNTRY 475 

and population of America, and her relations of interest 
always maintained with England, may and must some 
day bring these two powers to concert together the con- 
quest, of the Spanish colonies. If national interest is the 
surest foundation for political calculations, this conjecture 
must appear incontestable. The court of Spain will do, 
then, at once a wise and great act if it calls the French to 
the defence of its colonies by ceding Louisiana to them, 
and by replacing in their hands this outpost of its richest 
possession in the New World." ^ 

Before Alquier could reach the point of making a defi- 
nite treaty, however, he was displaced by a special com- 
missioner, General Berthier. The reason for the change 
was that the First Consul believed he could impose more 
implicit confidence in the new appointee.^ Berthier ar- 
rived in Madrid late in August, 1800, bearing the projet 
of a treaty which had been prepared by Talleyrand. 
According to the terms of this instrument, France was 
to add to Parma a territory containing not fewer than 
one million inhabitants, and was to secure the consent of 
Austria and such other powers as might be interested 
in this shifting of boundaries. In return for these con- 
siderations, Spain was to cede Louisiana to France, and 
also the two Floridas. Spain was to yield possession of 
these American territories whenever the promised increase 
of Parma should be actually realized. And the two 

1 Note addressed by Alquier, August 3, 1800, Archives des Affaires 
f]trangferes. Quoted iu Adams, History of the United States, I. 305. 

2 Bonaparte to Talleyrand, 9 Thei'midor, An VIII. (July 28, 1800). 
Correspondance de XapoUon Premier, VI. 420. Berthier was Napoleon's 
" right hand in matters of secrecy and importance." Adams, History of 
the United States, I. 360. 



476 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

powers were to make common cause against any who 
might oppose these arrangements.^ 

Throughout September Berthier pushed the negotia- 
tion with much vigor. Several difficulties arose which 
operated to delay matters. Napoleon had originally 
asked for only Louisiana, whereas he was now asking 
also for the Floridas, and six war-ships besides. More- 
over, through Talleyrand's indiscretion, the object of 
Berthier's mission had been published in Paris, and had, 
of course, become known to the American minister at 
Madrid, who, in the interest of his country, now pro- 
ceeded to hinder the negotiation by asking some very 
pointed and embarrassing questions. Berthier, however, 
encouraged Don Carlos in the anticipation that Tuscany 
was to be the Parmese acquisition, and it was not long 
until the old king was sending post-haste for his former 
prime minister and favorite, Godoy, and was receiving 
him in an ecstasy of joy, crying : " Congratulate me on 
this brilliant beginning of Bonaparte's relations with 
Spain! The Prince-presumptive of Parma, my son-in- 
law and nephew, a Bourbon, is invited by France to 
reign on the delightful banks of the Arno over a people 
who once spread their commerce through the known 

1 "Instructions an G^n^ral Berthier, 8 Fructidor, An VIII." (August 
26, 1800) ; "Projet de Traits pr^liminaire et secret, 10 Fructidor, An 
VIII." (August 28, 1800), Archives des Affaires Etx-angferes. Cited in 
Adams, History of the United States, I. 367. "In the history of the 
United States hardly any document, domestic or foreign, to be found in 
tlieir archives has greater interest than this projet ; for from it the United 
States must trace whatever legal title they obtained to the vast region 
west of the Mississippi. The treaties which followed were made merely 
in pursuance of this engagement, with such variations as seemed good for 
the purpose of carrying out the central idea of restoring Louisiana to 
France." Adams, I. 367-368. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COLTfTRY 477 

world, and who were the controlling power of Italy, — 
a people mild, civilized, full of humanity ; the classical 
land of science and art." ^ 

On the 1st of October, not twenty-four hours after 
the treaty of Morfontaine in settlement of the strained 
relations of France and the United States had been 
signed at Paris by Napoleon's brother Joseph, Berthier 
and Godoy signed the treaty of San Ildefonso, by which 
Louisiana was retroceded to France. ^ The two treaties 
were essentially inconsistent, so far as the disposal of 
American affairs was concerned, and no one was more 
keenly a^vare of this than the crafty Talleyrand himself. 
No one supposed, certainly not Talleyrand, that the 
people of the United States would view with complacency 
the transfer of Louisiana from decadent Spain to aggres- 
sive France, and it was folly to expect that, if the transfer 
were actually made, the recently established peace be- 
tween the French and the Americans would long endure. 

By the treaty of Luneville, signed February 9, 1801, 
after Austria's humiliation at Hohenlinden, the Grand 
Duke of Parma was dispossessed of his lands, and it 
was provided that the ' young duke, his son and Don 
Carlos's son-in-law, should be established in the govern- 
ment of Tuscany. 3 This was a step, of course, toward 
the execution of the treaty of San Ildefonso. In order 

1 Godoy 's Memoirs, III. 20. Translation in Adams, Histoi-y of the 
United States, I. o69. 

2 "Traits pr^liininaire et secret, Octobre 1, 1800," Recueil de Traites 
de la France, par De Clercq, I. 411, and Marten.s, liecueil des Principanx 
Traites conclus par les Puissances de V Europe, X. 4(37. 

3 Koch, Histoire Ahref/ee des Traites de Paix entre les Puissances de 
V Europe (edition continued by Schoell), V. 357-358. 



478 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

fully to complete the arrangements, Napoleon's brother 
Lucien was sent to Madrid as ambassador. This move 
was doubtless a mistake, at least as Napoleon subse- 
quently had reason to regard it, for Lucien had a will of 
his own, and in his dealings at the Spanish court ignored 
his brother's orders right royally. It should be noted, 
however, that it was with Godoy that he had to treat, 
and Godoy was a very different man from Urquijo. 
Since the adding of the Floridas to Napoleon's demand, 
the king's enthusiasm for the retrocession had fast ebbed 
away, and he had persuaded Godoy again to assume the 
duties, though not the title, of minister of foreign 
affairs, because he could find no one else who was 
shrewd enough to hold his own with Napoleon and his 
agents.! With Godoy, Lucien made a treaty, March 21, 
1801, providing for the creation of the kingdom of 
Tuscany and for the immediate transfer of Louisiana. ^ 
But, being bribed heavily by the Spanish minister, he 
subscribed to another treaty — that of Badajos — June 6, 
which thwarted Napoleon's designs upon Portugal and 
aroused no small indignation on the part of the First 
Consul.^ The loss of the Russian alliance, however, 
the victory of Nelson's fleet at Copenhagen, and the 

1 This explanation of the quasi-restoration of Godoy to his former 
position comes from his own 3Ieinoirs, III. 76-78, but is clearly proved to 
be correct by facts known from other sources. 

2 Martens, Eecrieil des Principaux Traites conclus par les Puissances 
de VEurope, VII. 336-339. Text and English translation in the American 
State Papers, II. 511. Translation in the Ajinals of Congress (1802- 
1803), 1018. 

8 Martens, ibid., VII. 348-351. The treaty of Badajos was an agree- 
ment primarily between Don Carlos IV. and Don Juan, prince regent of 
Portugal. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 479 

imminent surrender of the French army in Egypt forced 
Napoleon for a little time to resign himself, albeit with 
very ill grace, to the disposition of Spanish and Portu- 
guese affairs made by his self-willed brother. 

On the 27th of July Talleyrand was definitely in- 
structed to demand of the Spanish government the 
autliority to take possession of Louisiana. ^ The First 
Consul was growing impatient. The San Ildefonso bar- 
gain, made almost a year before, must be put into effect 
and that without further delay. Godoy, however, had now 
almost supplanted the king in dictating Spain's foreign 
policy ; and Godoy had no mind to yield Louisiana as 
long as that territory could be retained — certainly not 
until the execution of the French side of the bargain should 
have been made entirely secure. Through Godoy's influ- 
ence the Spanish king had been kept from affixing his 
signature to tlie various treaties concerning Louisiana, and 
without his doing so the treaties could not be regarded 
as absolutely binding. It was not until October 15, 1802, 
— more than a year after the time of which we are speak- 
ing, — that Don Carlos thus formally committed himself to 
the retrocession. In Godoy were exhibited the very same 
qualities of suavity, shrewdness, and duplicity, which so 
markedly characterized the French First Consul and his 
foreign minister. So tliat when these men were pitted 
against one another in the diplomatic arena, the world 
might well attend closely in anticipation of interesting 
developments. 

Resolved to meet Napoleon on his own ground and frus- 

1 Bonaparte to Talleyrand, 8 Thormidor, An IX. (July 27, 1801), 
Corrcspondance de NapoUon Premier, VII. 210. 



480 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

trate his suspected design of securing possession of Lou- 
isiana without really making the promised compensation, 
Godoy represented to Talleyrand that in the present state 
of affairs the authority demanded by the First Consul 
could never be granted. For while Don Carlos's son-in- 
law, the young king of the newly created and newly 
christened Etruria, had been called to Paris with his 
queen and had been magnificently entertained there and 
given every assurance that he was in very truth the sov- 
ereign of the goodly Italian kingdom, French garrisons 
were still maintained in that kingdom, French generals 
ruled it, no European power had yet recognized it, and 
so far as yet appeared the royal title was an altogether 
empty one. There was certainly much ground for sus- 
pecting the French of insincerity. Just what was Napo- 
leon's actual intention at this juncture cannot be definitely 
ascertained. Such things under the Napoleonic system of 
diplomacy were not committed to paper. But that as 
matters then stood Godoy was fully warranted in refusing 
to relinquish Louisiana admits of no doubt whatever. 

Of course Godoy's refusal incensed the First Consul. 
He himself wrote the scathing note which Talleyrand was 
directed to send through Azara, the Spanish minister at 
Paris, to Don Carlos. " It is at the moment," so ran the 
message, " when the First Consul gives such strong proofs 
of his consideration for the king of Spain, and places 
a prince of his house on a throne which is fruit of the 
victories of French arms, tliat a tone is taken toward 
the Frencli Republic such as might be taken with 
impunity toward the Republic of San Marino. The F'irst 
Consul, full of confidence in the personal character of his 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 481 

* 

Catholic Majesty, hopes that from the moment he is made 
aware of the bud conduct of some of his ministers, he will 
look to it, and will recall them to the sentiments of esteem 
and consideration which France does not cease to enter- 
tain for Spain. The First Consul will never persuade 
himself that his Catholic Majesty wishes to insult the 
French people and their government at the moment when 
these are doing so much for Spain. This would suit 
neither his heart nor his loyalty, nor the interest of his 
crown." 1 To Lucien was intrusted the task of letting the 
Spanish sovereigns know that Napoleon was highly indig- 
nant at the " extravagant and insolent " conduct of the 
Prince of Peace, "ce miserable.'''' "I am long-suffer- 
ing," wrote the First Consul, "■ but already I am w^armly 
affected by this tone of contempt and disregard which is 
taken at Madrid ; and if they continue to put the Republic 
under the necessity either of enduring the shame of the 
outrages publicly inflicted on it, or of avenging them by 
arms, they may see things they do not expect." ^ 

Godoy, however, refused to be moved in the least by the 
menacing attitude thus exhibited. He felt that the facts 
of the case justified him in the stand which he had taken, 
and his distrust of the motives of the First Consul was 
only confirmed by the latter's importunity and bravado. 
It was not for Godoy to yield on the order of even the 
victor of the Pyramids and Marengo. The truth is that 
Napoleon had come nearer finding his match in the wdly 
Spanish minister than in any general with whom he had 

^ Coirespondance de Napoleon Premier, VII. 225. 
2 Bonaparte to Talleyrand, 27 Thermidor, An IX. (August 15, 1801); 
ibid., 226-227. 

2i 



482 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

* 

yet measured strength on the fiekl of battle. That he 
was sorely piqued was not unnatural. 

And yet one way was left open for the accomplishment 
of the desired end. That was the occupation of Louisiana 
by force. Spain was comparatively weak, the Spanish 
population in Louisiana was relatively small, and there 
seemed to be no good reason why the territory in question 
might not be brought under French control regardless of 
Godoy's stubborn opposition. By way of preparation for 
the seizure of the Louisiana country Napoleon undertook 
to crush the revolution in St. Domingo led by Toussaint 
Louverture. Louverture was a negro who, within the 
narrow confines of St. Domingo, was playing essentially 
the same part that Napoleon himself had begun to play 
in Europe. Since St. Domingo was the recognized base of 
operations against Louisiana, Napoleon resolved to subdue 
the insurrection, reestablish negro slavery, and make the 
island the chief stronghold of French power in the western 
Atlantic. On the 22nd of November, 1801, the combined 
French and Spanish fleets left Brest for the conquest of 
Toussaint's kingdom. ^ Late in January, 1802, the war was 
begun under the direction of Napoleon's brother-in-law, Le- 
clerc, and after a three months' struggle Toussaint, largely 
because of the treachery of his generals, was forced to sur- 
render. He was carried to Europe and imprisoned in a 
fortress on the Swiss frontier, where he died, April 7, 1803. ^ 

1 For a brief sketch of the French preparations to take possession of 
Louisiana through the reduction of St. Domingo, see James K. Hosmer, 
History of the Louisiana Purchase, Ch. III. 

2 For an excellent account of Louverture's career, and of his influence 
upon the history of the United States, see Adams, History of the United 
States, I. Ch. XV. Other works wliich may be referred to in this connec- 



X NAPOLEOX AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 483 

The sailing of the fleet for St. Domingo had occurred 
just ten days after the arrival of Robert R. Livingston, 
the new American minister to the French court. A few 
weeks subsequently Livingston wrote to Rufus King, who 
was then the American minister at London, that he was 
authoritatively informed that the armament would pro- 
ceed to Louisiana in case no .serious opposition was met 
in the island. The task of reducing the revolutionists to 
subjection proved too great, however, to admit of any 
further conquest by Leclerc's troops, and accordingly we 
find Xapoleon, in June, 1802, ordering his minister of 
marine to prepare estimates for a special expedition to 
Louisiana. It was announced that it was his intention 
"to take possession of Louisiana with the shortest delay," 
and to send this expedition " in the utmost secrecy under 
the appearance of being directed on St. Domingo." ^ 

The prospect of losing Louisiana after this fashion was 
hardly pleasing to Spain — least of all to Godoy. It was 
well understood that Xapoleon would prefer to secure the 
territory without the necessity of fighting for it, since he 
had other uses for his men and money. This determined 
Godoy to make the best of a bad situation and forestall 
the proposed expedition by a definite cession, on terms 
as favorable to Spain as possible, of the territory that now 
seemed quite certain to be lost in any event. He there- 

tion are .Jean Francois Dubroca, La tie de Toussaint-Louterture, chefdes 
noirs insurges de Saint-Domingue ; C. W. Elliott, St. Domingo., its Revo- 
lution and its Hero; Pierre Laffitte. Toussaint-Louverture ; Marcus 
Raiasford, St. Domingo; .James Stephen. Buonaparte in the West Indies; 
and Wendell Phillips. The St. Domingo Insurrection. 

1 Bonaparte to Contre-Amiral Decriss, lo Prairial, An X. (June 4, 1802). 
Correspondence de Xapoleon Premier, VII, 485. 



484 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

fore made Talleyrand an unequivocal promise that Lou- 
isiana should be promptly delivered on two conditions : 
first, that Austria, England, and the dethroned Grand 
Duke of Parma be induced to recognize the young king 
of Etruria ; and second, that the territory thus transferred 
from Spain to France be never alienated by the latter 
power. Through General Gouvion St.-Cyr, the new 
French minister at Madrid, Talleyrand hastened to make 
emphatic promises that on both these points the terms 
proposed by Godoy should be strictly observed. That 
France would never sell or in any other way dispose of 
Louisiana was made the subject of a written pledge signed 
on behalf of the First Consul by St.-Cyr, in July, 1802.1 
Napoleon was still asking for the Floridas also, though 
Talleyrand strongly advised that East Florida, at least, 
be left in the hands of the Spaniards as a sort of buffer 
against the United States. The king was heavily bribed 
to allow the cession of the Floridas and the queen easily 
won over to support it. In the pledge just mentioned it 
was specified that the French should obtain the entire 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico westward to the mouth of the 
Rio Grande — which meant the inclusion of the Floridas 
with Louisiana. But St.-Cyr's statement was far from 
being a reciprocal agreement, and Godoy adroitly con- 
trived to prevent its becoming such, so far as the Floridas 
were concerned. In the hurry of later events France was 

1 When, more than a year later, Marquis de Yrujo, the Spanish minis- 
ter at Washington, was protesting against tlie transfer of Louisiana from 
France to the United States, he used this pledge of St.-Cyr as an argu- 
ment that a sale of the territory in question by France could not be bind- 
ing. Yrujo to Madison, September 4, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
569. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 485 

given no time in which to make good Napoleon's ex- 
tensive claim. The question of sovereignty in Florida 
remained to vex the relations of Spain and the United 
States long after the possession of Louisiana had been 
permanently settled. Meanwhile, due to lack of resources 
and also to the better prospect of a peaceable occupation 
of the Louisiana territory, the proposed French expedition 
for its conquest was indefinitely postponed. 

When Jefferson assumed the presidential office March 4, 
1801, it was with the conviction that our foreign relations, 
particularly with France and Spain, were destined long 
to be peaceful and free from serious complications. In 
giving expression to the famous aphorism, " Peace, com- 
merce, and honest friendship with all nations ; entangling 
alliances with none," ^ the new President little realized how 
severely the national policy thus outlined was to be tested 
by a situation already rapidly assuming form. Much less 
did he foresee that our traditional course of isolation was 
in most imminent danger of interruption by France, with 
whom a very satisfactory treaty had just been concluded, 
and tow^ard whose people he had always been most friendly. 
And least of all did he conceive that any possible contin- 
gency of his administration could result in the adding of 
more than 875,000 square miles to a national domain 
which, in the first inaugural, was declared already to be 
"large enough for our descendants to the thousandth 
and thousandth generation." "With respect to Spain," 
the new President wrote to William C. C. Claiborne, the 
recently appointed governor of the Mississippi territory, 

1 In the first inaugural address, March 4, 1801. The address is printed 
in Rjchardson, Messagex and Papers of the Presidents, I. 321-324. 



486 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

" our disposition is sincerely amicable, and even affec- 
tionate. We consider her possession of the adjacent 
country as most favorable to our interests, and should see 
with an extreme pain any other nation substituted for 
them. . . . Should France get possession of that coun- 
try, it will be more to be lamented than to be remedied 
by us, as it will furnish ground for profound considera- 
tion on our part, how best to conduct ourselves in that 
case." ^ Though his admiration for Napoleon had suffered 
a rather severe shock by reason of the acts of the eigh- 
teenth Brumaire, Jefferson still expected to have the con- 
fidence of the First Consul and anticipated only the 
pleasantest relations with him. As to this he was soon 
to be disillusioned ; and as time went on the more he 
came to know of the Consul and later emperor the more 
he was compelled to distrust him. 

It was not until June, 1801, that the rumors of the 
treaty of retrocession were deemed worthy of official 
notice in the United States, though as early as the pre- 
ceding March, King had reported to Secretary Madison 
that there was no little evidence that they were true.^ 
News travelled across the Atlantic slowly enough a hun- 
dred years ago, and the people of America were kept 
only very imperfectly informed of contemporary events 
in Europe, — particularly when there was any effort, as in 
this case, to conceal the facts. June 1, King wrote to 
Madison that Lord Hawkesbury, the British minister of 

1 Jefferson to William C. C. Claiborne, July 13, 1801, Writings of 
Thomas Jefferson (Ford's ed.), VIII. 71. 

2 King to Madison, March 29, 1801, American State Papers, II. 509, and 
Charles R. King (ed.), The Life and Correspondence of Eufiis King, III. 
414. 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 487 

foreign affairs, had interviewed him on the subject of 
Louisiana, and had very unreservedly expressed the reluc- 
tance with which the English government would acquiesce 
in the displacement of Spanish by French power on the 
Mississippi. " The acquisition," Hawkesbury had de- 
clared, " might enable France to extend her influence, and 
perhaps her dominion, up the Mississippi and through the 
Great Lakes even to Canada. This would be realizing the 
plan to prevent the accomplishment of which the Seven 
Years' War took place ; besides, the vicinity of the Floridas 
to the West Indies, and the facility with which the trade 
of the latter might be interrupted, and the islands even 
invaded, should the transfer be made, were strong reasons 
why England must be unwilling that the territory should 
pass under the dominion of France." King reported that he 
liad given his lordship to understand that the United States 
would certainly oppose the transfer. The two had agreed 
that, in the facetious mot of Montesquieu, " it was happy 
for the trading powers that God had permitted Turks and 
Spaniards to be in the world, since of all nations they are 
the most proper to possess an empire with insignificance." ^ 
During the summer of 1801, Secretary Madison wrote 
mild letters on the subject of the retrocession to our 
ministers at London, Paris, and Madrid, setting forth the 
almost universal feeling in America that the passing of 
Louisiana into the hands of the French would be detri- 
mental to the interests of the United States. ^ Trouble 

1 King to Madison, June 1, 1801, Amrrican State Papers, II. 509, and 
Life and Correspondence of litifus King, III. 409. 

'^ Madi.son to Charles Pinckney, June 9, 1801 ; to Robert R. Living- 
ston, September 28, 1801, American State Papers, II. 610-611, and the 
Annals of Congress (1802-1803), 1014-1015. 



488 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

enough had been experienced during the last two decades 
with the Spanish on the southwest, but there was abun- 
dant reason to expect much greater annoyance if the 
French should become our neighbors in that direction. 
Spain was at best but a decadent power, while France, 
under the aggressive leadership of Napoleon, was rapidly 
becoming the dominant nation of Europe. It was the 
earnest desire of the people and of the Administration that 
the Spaniards should continue in possession of the trans- 
Mississippi country. 

"The whole subject," Madison wrote to Pinckney at 
Madrid, " will deserve and engage your early and vigilant 
inquiries, and may require a very delicate and circumspect 
management. What the motives of Spain in this trans- 
action may be are not so obvious. The policy of France in 
it, at least as relates to the United States, cannot be mis- 
taken. Whilst she remained on the footing of confidence 
and affection with the United States, which originated 
during our Revolution, and was strengthened during the 
early stages of her own, it may be presumed that she 
adhered to the policy which, in the treaty of 1778, re- 
nounced the acquisition of continental territory in North 
America ; and was more disposed to shun the collisions 
threatened by possessions in that quarter, coterminous with 
ours, than to pursue objects to which the commanding 
position at the mouth of the Mississippi might be made 
subservient. Circumstances are not now the same. 
Although the two countries are again brought together 
by stipulations of amity and commerce, the confidence 
and cordiality which formerly subsisted have had a deep 
wound from the occurrences of late years. Jealousies 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 489 

probably still remain, that the Atlantic states have a 
partiality for Great Britain, which may, in future, throw 
their weight into the scale of that rival. It is more than 
possible, also, that, under the influence of these jealousies, 
and of the alarms which have at times prevailed, of 
a projected operation for wresting the mouth of the 
Mississippi into the hands of Great Britain, she may 
have concluded a preoccupancy of it by herself to be a 
necessary safeguard against an event from which that 
nation would derive the double advantage of strengthen- 
ing her hold on the United States, and of adding to her 
commerce a monopoly of the immense and fertile region 
communicating with the sea through a single outlet. . . . 
She [France] must infer, from our conduct and our 
communications, that the Atlantic states are not disposed 
to enter, nor are in danger of being drawn, into 
partialities toward Great Britain unjust or injurious to 
France ; that our political and commercial interests afford 
a sufficient guaranty against such a state of things ; that 
without the cooperation of the United States, Great Britain 
is not likely to acquire any part of the Spanish possessions 
on the Mississippi ; and that the United States never have 
favored, nor so long as they are guided by the clearest 
policy, ever can favor, such a project. She must be led to 
see again, and with a desire to shun, the danger of collisions 
l)etween the two republics, from the contact of their 
territories, and from the conflicts in their regulations of 
a commerce involving the peculiarities which distinguish 
that of the Mississippi."^ 

1 Madison to Pinckney, June 9, 1801, Antials of Congress (1802-1803), 
1014. 



490 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

While declaring that the establishment of French sover- 
eignty in that quarter would be " ominous " and would 
" occasion extreme pain " on the part of all Americans, 
President Jefferson was loath to recognize the inii^ort of 
Napoleon's policy and reluctant to acknowledge the 
wisdom of making open and vigorous opposition to it. 
Although possessed of intense convictions and guided 
invariably by great enthusiasms, Jefferson was essentially 
a man of peace ; and in the face of the serious situation 
which he felt was certain to develop in the Mississippi 
region if Napoleon prosecuted the plans credited to him, 
he was determined at all honorable hazards to prevent the 
young nation from becoming involved in war. Godoy 
kept delaying the consummation of the treaty, and Tous- 
saint's rebellion continued to call for all the strength the 
First Consul could muster. Otherwise possession could 
have been taken in Louisiana before the President had 
even become convinced of the French plan, much less 
devised a means of thwarting it. 

But by the spring of 1802 not even Jefferson could 
longer persuade himself that Napoleon's designs upon 
Louisiana were only gross misrepresentations. There 
were too many evidences that these designs were quite 
real, and this despite the fact that at Paris, Talleyrand, 
when quizzed by Livingston late in December, 1801, had 
roundly denied the existence of any such thing as a treaty 
of retrocession. " It had been a subject of conversation," 
admitted the smooth-tongued secretary, " but nothing 
[had been] concluded." The trustworthiness of this 
denial was rather seriously compromised by the fact that 
at precisely the same time that it reached Jefferson, there 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 491 

came also from King a full copy of the treaty itself,^ setting 
forth all the terms of the retrocession as arranged by 
Lucien Bonaparte and Godoy.^ This was proof positive 
that Talleyrand was attempting to deceive the United 
States. Both Madison and Livingston were thrown into 
a bad temper by such a revelation of duplicity, and the 
outlook for a peaceful adjustment seemed correspondingly 
darkened. 

The President now resolved to avail himself of the 
services of a French gentleman of high standing and 
abilit}^ Dupont de Nemours by name, in whom he had 
implicit confidence, and who was just on the point of re- 
turning home from an extended visit in America. To 
Dupont Jefferson expressed an earnest desire that he use 
his influence, unofficially of course, with the First Con- 
sul, and convince him if possible of the disastrous effects 
which must follow a French attempt to possess Louisiana. 
A letter was also placed in Dupont's hands which was 
to be carried to Livingston, but which the bearer was 
asked to read in order that he might have the arguments 
it contained for use on Napoleon. One portion of this 
letter in particular has become famous as indicating the 
seriousness of a situation which could drive Jefferson to 
such emphatic expressions of anti-French, pro-English 
sentiment. " The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas; 
by Spain to France works most sorely on the United 
States. ... It completely reverses all the political re- 
lations of the United States, and will form a new epoch 

1 Not the original treaty of San Ildefonso, but the one negotiated by 
Lucien Bonaparte and Godoy, March 21, 1801. 

2 Life and Correspondence of lirtfus Kinrj, IV. 15-20. 



492 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

in our political course. . . . There is on the globe one 
single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and 
habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the 
produce of three-fourths of our territory must pass to 
market. France, placing herself in that door, assumes 
to us the attitude of defiance. Spain might have retained 
it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her feeble 
state, would induce her to increase our facilities there, 
so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt 
by us, and it would not, perhaps, be very long before 
some circumstance might arise which might make the 
cession of it to us the price of something of more worth 
to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France ; 
the impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restless- 
ness of her character, placed in a point of eternal friction 
with us, and our character, which, though quiet and 
loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is high-minded, 
despising wealth in competition with insult or injury, 
enterprising and energetic as any nation on earth : these 
circumstances render it impossible that France and the 
United States can continue long friends, when they meet 
in so irritable a jDosition. They, as well as we, must be 
blind if they do not see this ; and we must be very im- 
provident if we do not begin to make arrangements on 
that hypothesis. The day that France takes possession 
of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to restrain 
her forever within her low- water mark. It seals the union 
of two nations, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclu- 
sive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must 
marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We 
must turn all our attention to a maritime force, for which 



X NAPOLEON AND THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY 493 

our resources place us on very high ground ; and having 
formed and connected together a j)ower which may render 
reenforcement of her settlements here impossible to France, 
make the first cannon which shall be fired in Europe the 
signal for the tearing up of any settlement she may have 
made, and for holding the two continents of America in 
sequestration for the common purposes of the united 
British and American nations. This is not a state of 
things we seek or desire. It is one which this measure, 
if adopted by France, forces on us as necessarily as any 
other cause, by the law of nature, brings on its necessary 
effect."! 

Coming as it did, just when Toussaint's rebellion seemed 
to have been crushed and the way thus opened to Louisi- 
ana, Dupont's influence upon Napoleon, though wielded 
with much skill and tact, counted at the time for little 
or nothing. 2 Yet the French successes in St. Domingo 
were ordy apparent. The carrying away of Toussaint in 
no sense ended the struggle. The tenure of the island 
continued to be as uncertain as before. One army of 
seventeen thousand men had been consumed in suppress- 
ing the negroes. Another was even now being swept 
out of existence by a scourge of yellow fever. The call 
for money and men was incessant, else — so ran the de- 
spatches — "St. Domingo will be forever lost to France." 
November 1, 1802, Leclerc himself fell a victim to the 

^ Jefferson's Works (Washington's ed.), IV. 431-434. 

2 See J. H. Hollander, " Du Pont de Nemours and American Affairs," 
in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political 
Science., 21st Series, No. VI. ; J. G. Kosengarten, " Dii Pont de Nemours." 
in the Magazine of American History, XXI. 234-240 ; and Adams, His- 
tory nf the United States, I. Ch. XVI. 



494 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, x 

fever. Unwittingly the negroes by their stubborn re- 
bellion were postponing the establishment of French 
authority in Louisiana until the arrival of a day when 
European conditions were to force an abandonment of 
the whole project. In this indirect sense, at least, the 
United States owes no small debt of gratitude to Tous- 
saint and those who struggled with him in what they 
understood to be the cause of liberty. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 

THE summer of 1802, in respect to the Louisiana 
situation, was a time of suspense. The ^Spaniards 
were still in possession of the territory and were giving 
no indication of an intention to withdraw. Napoleon's 
designs were well understood, but his preoccupation with 
St. Domingo rendered his immediate course extremely 
uncertain. The war between England and France had 
been brought to a close by the treaty of Amiens, and 
it was not unreasonable to suppose that, being thus 
relieved from the pressure of European affairs. Napoleon 
might now find himself able to establish order quite 
speedily in St. Domingo and proceed without further 
delay to take possession of Louisiana. There was but 
one ground for hope in the United States that events 
would not thus shape themselves. This was the strong 
probability of an early renewal of the European war. 
Although the treaty of Amiens was avowedly con- 
clusive in the settlement of the issues at stake between 
Enghmd and France, there could really never be an 
abiding peace as long as Napoleon was at the helm in 
the latter country. President Jefferson clearly perceived 
this, and thought the resuming of the struggle a question 
merely of a few years. If there could but be enough 

496 



496 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

delay in Napoleon's American proceedings to prevent 
the taking of Louisiana before the renewal of hostili- 
ties with England, the problem of the lower Mississii3pi 
might be solved without any positive action on part of 
the United States. The exigencies of another European 
war would certainly stay the course of French aggres- 
sions in the western hemisphere. It was quite within 
the range of possibility that such a Avar would render 
the treaty of San Ildefonso nugatory and leave the Span- 
iards in undisputed possession of the Louisiana territory. 
Just as the Administration was beginning to feel fairly 
comfortable in this anticipation, there came a piece of 
news which marked a wholly unexpected move in the 
great game. From Natchez, Governor Claiborne, of the 
Mississippi territory, sent word to the secretary of state 
that the Spanish intendant, Don Juan Ventura Morales, 
had withdrawn the right of deposit at New Orleans, 
which had been granted Americans by the treaty of 
San Lorenzo el Real in 1795. ^ It will be remembered 
that this right, so critically important to the population 
beyond the Alleghanies, had been secured only after long 
and bitter contention. Pinckney's hard-won treaty had 
redeemed from industrial stagnation the finest region and 
the hardiest people that the United States contained, and 
with every passing year the prosperity of the West be- 

1 W. C. C. Claiborne to Secretary Madison, October 29, 1802, Ame^'i- 
can State Papers, II. 470. The date of the intendant's decree was Octo- 
ber 16. "The late act of the Spanish government at New Orleans," 
wrote Claiborne, "has excited considerable agitation at Natchez and its 
vicinity. It has inflicted a severe wound on the agricultural and com- 
mercial interests of this territory, and will prove no less injurious to all 
the -western country." See Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, III. 456-458. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 497 

came a matter of larger national importance. This pros- 
perity was absolutely dependent on the free use of the 
^lississippi and of New Orleans as a post for the ex- 
change of goods from river barges to ocean-going craft. 
Morales's order in 1802 cancelled by one stroke all that 
had been gained in behalf of the Westerners by more 
than a decade of diligent diplomacy. 

It is not at all improbable that the responsibility for 
the order lay with Napoleon, and that the retrocession 
treaty had been accompanied by a secret agreement on 
the subject. At least there was a strong feeling in the 
United States at the time that this was the case — par- 
ticularly in the West, where the closure was regarded as 
simply a foretaste of French administration. The alleged 
reason for Morales's order was the necessity under which 
the intendant found himself of increasing the revenues 
from New Orleans. In a despatch he stated that these 
revenues for the year 1802 amounted in all to only 
1121,041 — a sum which would have been "greatly in- 
creased but for the contraband trade carried on by the 
flatboats which come down the river." ^ The treaty of 
1795 had specified that for three years New Orleans 
should constitute a place of deposit for American traders, 
and that at the end of this time either the right should 
be renewed at New Orleans or some other place should 
be designated for the purpose. At the expiration of the 
three years, in 1798, nothing had been done concerning 
the renewal. Both nations seem to have assumed that 

1 Gayarrfi, History of Louisiana, III. 577. See Franklin S. Riley, 
" Spanish Policy in Mississippi after the Treaty of San Lorenzo," in the 
Anmial Report of the American Historical Association for 1S97, 175-193. 
2k 



498 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the existing arrangement would be allowed to stand 
indefinitely. In withdrawing the right Morales now 
asserted that it was long since forfeit, that the treaty 
which established it had been a mistake on Spain's part 
from the outset, and that the river should no longer be 
open to American commerce except on the payment of 
heavy tolls. He further declared that the retrocession of 
Louisiana wa,s to be made the occasion for a reopening 
of the whole question of Spain's relations with the United 
States. The Spanish governor at New Orleans, Don Juan 
de Salcedo, protested vigorously against the intendant's 
action as freighted only with danger to Spain, and like- 
wise the Spanish minister at Washington, Don Carlos 
Martinez de Yrujo, hastened to characterize the closure 
as merely a piece of high-handed despotism on the part 
of Morales ; but under the clumsy colonial and diplo- 
matic system of Spain the opinion of governors and 
ministers counted for little or nothing. 

When Congress convened in December it was expected 
by many that decisive steps would be taken, both to re- 
open the Mississippi, and to circumvent the reestablish- 
ment of French authority at New Orleans. From the 
West arose an uncompromising demand for action of 
this sort. That there was not much excitement, how- 
ever, on part of the legislators is evidenced by the fact 
that more than a week elapsed before the Senate could 
muster a quorum. The President's message was read 
on the 15th. Those who expected it to take radical 
ground on the Louisiana question were sorely dis- 
appointed. That subject seemed to have been studiously 
avoided. Much was said about the carrying trade. 



XI THE LOUISIANA TURCHASE 499 

relations with the Barbary powers, Indian affairs, na- 
tional linances, the army, and the navy ; but on the 
subject which, in view of its intrinsic importance and 
the President's well-known appreciation of it, might 
have been expected to receive most attention, only the 
following extremely colorless statement was to be found : 
" The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to 
France, which took place in the course of flie late war, 
will, if carried into effect, make a change in the aspect 
of our foreign relations which will doubtless have just 
weight in any deliberations of the legislature connected 
with that subject." ^ And as for Congress, the same 
conservative disposition was manifested by a resolution 
passed in January, 1803, to " wait the issue of such meas- 
ures as that department of the government [the Execu- 
tive] shall have pursued for asserting the rights and 
vindicating the injuries of the United States. "^ 

Nevertheless, while Jefferson was not . saying much 
officially, he was thinking a great deal, and also employ- 
ing every available means to bring influence to bear upon 
Napoleon to relinquish his schemes for aggrandizement 
in America. The President's policy was confessedly one 
of delay, in regard both to France and Spain. He was 
not sure to what extent the one was responsible for the 
acts of the other. Keenly conscious, too, that the Federal- 
ists were secretly desiring his discomfiture and even his 
failure in the management of the nation's affairs, he was 
led to be the more cautious, lest a mistake should create 

1 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I. 343. 

2 Resolutions of January 7, 1803, Annals of Congress (1802-1803), 
339. 



500 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

political capital for the party opposed to liim. Under 
existing conditions, war would not merely exhaust the 
nation's limited resources, but would also inevitably have 
a reactionary effect at the polls. Jefferson, indeed, owed 
his own election in part to the popular dissatisfaction 
aroused by increased taxation during the recent threat- 
ened war with France. " Peace is our passion," he there- 
fore declared, and to maintain peace he was as willing to 
bear and forbear as Washington had been in 1793 and as 
Madison was to be in 1811. 

Out of the West, however, continued to arise a clamor 
such as would not be stilled. It was the people of this 
section who suffered by the closure of the Mississippi, and 
it was they also who had most reason to fear the transfer 
of the western bank of the river to France. Their de- 
mand for national protection was rapidly assuming a very 
determined tone, and the threat of secession, now by no 
means unfamiliar, aroused the Administration to the dan- 
ger of pursuing an apparently indifferent policy too far. 
The actual disruption of the Union must not be risked, 
even for the sake of external peace. 

To meet this phase of the situation the President re- 
solved upon the expedient of sending a special envoy to 
France and Spain. Not much would probably be gained 
by such an envoy that could not just as well be gained by 
the resident ministers, but this manifestation of interest 
on part of the Executive would at least do no harm abroad 
and might have a salutary effect upon the discontented 
elements at home. The man for the mission was not hard 
to find. Without a moment's hesitation Jefferson selected 
James Monroe, who had just retired from the governorship 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 501 

of Virginia. Monroe had many qualities to recommend 
him for the task. He was genial, conscientious, patriotic, 
and well versed in the art of diplomacy. A lifelong friend 
of Jefferson, he was well informed as to the Administra- 
tioii's principles and in hearty sympathy with its policy. 
He was as popular with the Westernei's as any man who 
could have been chosen, and his appointment was well de- 
signed to soothe the rufded spirits of these long-suffering 
people. His former residence in Paris, while not of wholly 
glorious memory, had nevertheless prepared him in no 
small degree for the work now committed to him. 

On the 10th of January, 1803, Monroe was notified of 
the President's intention, ^ and on the day following his 
nomination was sent to the Senate, where it was speedily 
confirmed, though not without Federalist opposition. ^ 
Jefferson expressed the fear that peace was about to be 
overborne by the Westerners and the Federalists, and 
called upon Monroe to make a " temporary sacrifice " of 
himself " to prevent this greatest of evils in the present 
prosperous tide in our affairs." "The circumstances are 
such," it Avas urged, "as to render it impossible to decline, 
because the whole public hope will be rested on you." 
Even while the Senate was acting upon the appointment, 
the President wrote again to Monroe : " The agitation 
of the public mind on the occasion of the late suspension 
of our right of deposit at New Orleans is extreme. In 
the western country it is natural and grounded on honest 
motives. In the seaports it proceeds from a desire for 

1 Jefferson to Monroe, January 10, 1803, Writings of Jefferson (Ford's 
ed.), VIII. 188. 

2 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I. 350. 



502 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

war which increases the mercantile lottery ; in the 
federalists generally and especially those of Congress the 
object is to force us into war if possible, in order to 
derange ou;; finances, or if this cannot be done, to attach 
the western country to them, as their best friends, and 
thus get again into power. Remonstrances, memorials, 
etc., are now circulating through the whole of the west- 
ern country and signing by the body of the people. 
The measures we have been planning, being invisible, 
do not satisfy their minds. Something sensible therefore 
was become necessary." ^ 

The " something sensible " was, of course, the sending 
of a special envoy. And the object for which he was to 
be sent was the effecting of an agreement which Jefferson 
had become convinced was the only adequate solution of 
the difficulty, i.e. the purchase of New Orleans and the 
Floridas. Better by far, argued the President, spend a 
few millions outright in securing an independent title to 
the mouth of the Mississippi than go to war to regain a 
right of deposit which must always be a source of friction 
and liable to withdrawal. Livingston had already been 
instructed to feel his way in respect to this matter at the 
French court. Livingston's usefulness for the purpose, 
however, was much impaired by the fact that prior to 
receiving this instruction he had been very emphatic in 
assuring the French government that the United States 
cared not at all who possessed New Orleans, so long as the 
right of her citizens to navigate the Mississippi freely was 
guaranteed. On the day of Monroe's nomination General 

1 Jefferson to Monroe, January 13, 1803, Writings of Jefferson (Ford's 
ed.), VIII. 190. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 503 

Smith, of Maryland, had introduced a resolution in the 
House appropriating $2,000,000 " to defray any expenses 
which may be incurred in relation to the intercourse 
between the United States and foreign nations";^ and the 
following day a House committee, on the ground that New 
Orleans must either be fought for or bought, reported in 
favor of applying the money to the purchase of West 
Florida and New Orleans.^ It was the execution of this 
project which was now intrusted to the special envoy. 

" Having determined on this," continued Jefferson in 
his letter to Monroe, '' there could not be two opinions 
among the republicans as to the person. You possess the 
unlimited confidence of the Administration and of the 
western people ; and generally of the republicans every- 
where ; and were you to refuse to go, no other man can 
be found who does this. The measure has already 
silenced the Feds. here. Congress will no longer be 
agitated by them ; and the country will become calm as 
fast as the information extends over it. All eyes, all 
hopes, are now fixed on you ; and were you to decline, 
the chagrin would be universal, and would shake under 
your feet the high ground on which you stand with the 
public. Indeed, I know nothing which would produce 
such a shock, for on the event of this mission depend the 
future destinies of this republic." Jefferson candidly 
expressed the opinion that by the intended purchase 
alone could the United States secure herself against an 
early war, and that in default of it no time should be lost 
in making overtures to England with a view to assuring 
herself of an ally in the coming struggle. 

1 A7inals of Congress (1802-1803), 370. 2 f^^,^ 371-374. 



604 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Monroe was urged to make ready for the trip as speedily 
as possible,. "for the moment in France is critical." An 
absence of at least a year was to be anticipated. A deep 
sense of the personal inconvenience this appointment might 
carry with it was expressed by the President, but the en- 
voy was consoled with the suggestion that "some men 
are born for the public." It was a matter of regret to 
Jefferson that the " eagle eyes " of the public would not 
allow the providing of a special frigate for Monroe's use. 
But that honor had been denied Pinckney, Livingston, 
and King, and the economical policy which constituted 
the Administration's strongest claim to popular support 
could not be broken over in the case of one whom the 
opposition already chose to regard as the object of gross 
favoritism by the President and secretary of state. Mon- 
roe was therefore to take ship like any other passenger, 
with the right of reserving a cabin for his own comfort 
and convenience. His remuneration was to be $9000 per 
year in addition to travelling expenses. 

To Governor Garrard, of Kentucky, Jefferson wrote, 
January 18, that the people of the Southwest need have 
no fears as to the future of their trade, since Monroe was 
then on the point of setting out for France " to secure our 
rights and interests on the Mississippi, and in the country 
eastward of that."^ To smooth the way for Monroe in 
France the President wrote to Dupont de Nemours, Feb- 
ruary 1, explaining the urgency of the Mississippi ques- 
tion, commending Monroe as qualified in every respect to 
treat upon the subject, and requesting Dupont to exert 

1 Jefferson to James Garrard, January 18, 1803, Writings of Jefferson 
(Ford's ed.), VIII. 203. 



XI THE LOUISIANA TURCHASE 'SOS 

all his influence in behalf of a speedy and satisfactory con- 
clusion of the negotiation. Monroe went, declared Jeffer- 
son, " to aid in the issue of a crisis the most important the 
United States have ever met since their independence, and 
which is to decide their future character and career." 
The use of the Mississippi was asserted to be " so indis- 
pensable that we cannot hesitate one moment to hazard 
our existence for its maintenance. If we fail in this 
effort to put it beyond the reach of accident, we see the 
destinies we have to run, and prejtare at once for them. 
Not but that we shall still endeavor to go on in peace and 
friendship with our neighbors as long as we can, if our 
rights of navigation and deposit are respected ; but as we 
foresee that the caprices of the local oflicers, and the 
abuse of those rights by our boatmen and navigators, 
which neither government can prevent, will keep up a 
state of irritation which cannot long be kept inactive, we 
should be criminally improvident not to take at once 
eventual measures for strengthening ourselves for the 
contest." 1 

The purchase of more than New Orleans and the Flori- 
das was not for a moment contemplated. The United 
States was still too poor to buy territory for which she 
had absolutely no need. Her debt was large and her 
ability to borrow was limited. The reduction of the 
debt and the lessening of the national expenses were 
among the cardinal features of the Administration's pro- 
gramme. The territory which was really desired, and 
which Monroe and Livingston were authorized to pur- 

1 Jefferson to Dupont de Nemours, February 1, 1803, Writings of 
Jefferson (Ford's ed.), VIII. 203-208. 



606 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

chase, was described by Jefferson as merely "a barren 
sand 600 miles from east to west, & from 30 to 40 & 50 
miles from north to south, formed by deposition of the 
sands by the Gulf Stream in its circular course round 
the Mexican Gulf."^ The only portions of the tract that 
were at all valuable had already been preempted by 
Spaniards, whose titles would not of course be interfered 
with in event of the prospective purchase, so that the 
United States could anticipate no financial returns for 
the money expended. Jefferson persistently contended in 
letters to citizens, both of the United States and of France, 
that it was the interests of peace and nothing else that 
made the purchase expedient and, in fact, quite necessary. 
In expressions of confidence in the two men charged 
with the negotiation, Jefferson was profuse. To Livingston 
he wrote : " The future destinies of our country hang on 
the event of this negotiation, and I am sure they could 
not be placed in more able or more zealous hands. On 
our part we shall be satisfied that what you do not effect, 
cannot be effected." ^ It was not unnatural that Living- 
ston should feel just a bit piqued at the appointment of a 
special envoy, since, to some, it might seem to indicate 
a lack of confidence in his own ability to deal with the 
situation. To forestall any such feeling and secure com- 
plete harmony between the two ministers, Jefferson, in 
his correspondence, laid much emphasis on the fact that 
Monroe's appointment had been intended primarily to 

1 Jefferson to Dupoiit de Nemours, February 1, 1803, Writings of 
Jefferson (Ford's ed.), VIII. 200. 

2 Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, February 3, 1803, ibid., 209- 
210. 



XI THE LOUISIANA TURCHASE 507 

calm the Westerners, and, at the same time, to hasten the 
settlement of an issue which the Federalists had " caught 
as a plank in a shipwreck." It was also urged that only by- 
sending a special minister could all the necessary informa- 
tion and instructions be safely transmitted. 

In a letter to the President, March 7, written at New 
York just before his departure for Europe, Monroe gave 
expression at some length to his views on the issues at 
stake and the probabilities of the forthcoming negotiation. 
Adopting as his starting point the resolution introduced 
by Senator Ross, of Pennsylvania, February 15, requiring 
the President to take possession of New Orleans at once 
by an armed force, Monroe declared: "The resolutions of 
MT Ross prove that the federal party will stick at noth- 
ing to embarrass the adm° and recover its lost power. 
They nevertheless produce a great effect on the publick 
mind and I presume more especially in the western 
country. The unanimity in the publick councils respect- 
ing our right to the free navigation of the river, and 
its importance to every part of the U States, the dissat- 
isfaction at the interference of Sp? which will not be 
appeased while the power of a similar one exists, are 
calculated to inspire the hope of a result which may put 
us at ease forever on those points. If the negotiation 
secures all the objects sought, or a deposit with the sov- 
reignty over it, the federalists will be overwhelmed 
completely: the union of the western with the Eastern 
people will be consolidated, republican principles con- 
firmed, and a fair prospect of peace and happiness pre- 
sented to our country. But if the negotiation compromises 
short of that, and leaves the management of our great 



508 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

concerns in that river, which comprize every thing apper- 
taining to the western parts of the U States, in the hands of 
a foreign power, may we not expect that the publick will 
be disappointed and disapprove of the result. So far as 
I can judge, I think much would be hazarded by any ad- 
justment which did not put us in complete security for 
the future. It is doubtful whether an adjustment short 
of that would be approved in any part of the union ; I 
am thoroughly persuaded it would not to the westward. 
... It therefore highly merits consideration whether 
we should not take that ground as the ultimatum in the 
negotiation which must in every possible event preserve 
the confidence & affection of the western people. While 
we stand well with them we shall prosper. ... I hope 
the French gov!^ will have wisdom enough to see that we 
will never suffer France or any other power to tamper 
with our interior; if that is not the object there can be 
no reason for declining an accommodation to the whole 
of our demands."^ 

On the 8th of March, the next day after the foregoing 
letter was written, Monroe set sail.^ The instructions 
which he bore, while general rather than specific in nature, 
provided for three contingencies : (1) Should Napoleon 
be willing to sell New Orleans and the Floridas, any sum 
not exceeding ten millions might be offered, besides com- 
mercial privileges for ten years, a speedy extension of 
citizenship to the population of the regions acquired, and 
in case of urgent demand, an absolute guarantee of the 

1 Monroe to Jefferson, March 7, 1803, Monroe's Writings, IV. 5-7. 

2 For Monroe's preparations for the voyage, see his letter to George 
Clinton, March 6, and to Jefferson, March 7, in his Writings, IV. 3-8. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 509 

west bank of the Mississippi to the French. (2) Should 
Napoleon refuse to sell any territory whatsoever, even a 
few square miles on which a post might be built, a re- 
newal, of the right of deposit under the most favorable 
terms possible was to be secured. (3) Should even this 
be refused, communication of the fact to the President 
would be followed by special instructions — probably an 
order for Monroe to cross the Channel to England.^ It 
thus appears that Napoleon might have met the demands 
Monroe and Livingston were empowered to make — the 
minimum demands at least — by merely renewing the 
entrepot at New Orleans, or by selling a few square miles 
for the establishment of a new place of deposit. Such a 
transaction would have involved in no sense the loss of 
French prestige in America, and indeed such a settlement 
had already been promised Livingston by Talleyrand. 

In reality Jefferson did not expect immediate com- 
pliance by Napoleon with even the most modest of these 
requests. In private conversations he continued to admit 
that his only hope was to delay matters until war should 
again break out between France and England. That 
such a war was coming he clearly foresaw, although it 
came much sooner than he expected, and the results which 
flowed from it were such as he had hardly given a passing 
thought. If the people would only be patient enough to 
allow him to " palliate and endure " until that event, he 
believed that under its s'tress France might be con- 
strained to yield to the American demands as the 

1 Instructions of Secretary Madison to Livingston and Monroe, March 
2, 1803, American State Papers, II. 540 ; and Annals of Congress (1802- 
1S03), 109O-1107. 



510 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

price of American neutrality. In the meantime Napo- 
leon would probably take possession of Louisiana and 
might hold it for some years. 

The French minister at Washington, M. Pichon, dis- 
cerned the President's policy and continued to send 
home the most discouraging reports of the outlook 
for the French in America. Secretary Madison was 
artfully confirming Pichon in his fears, and Napoleon 
was strongly advised by his American representative 
to yield at once the territory desired. Although un- 
able to complain of any lack of consideration shown 
himself, yet Pichon did report that at the President's 
table he noticed that civilities and attentions to the 
British charge were redoubled. ^ That a British alliance 
was on the point of being formed he had not the 
slightest doubt. Monroe himself, before sailing, had 
assured the frightened Frenchman that in event of 
such an alliance the two powers " would not stop 
half way." In his report to the First Consul Pichon 
said that Monroe had given him to understand that 
if the negotiation for New Orleans failed, " the Admin- 
istration had made up its mind to act with the utmost 
vigor, and to receive the overtures which England was 
incessantly making ; " also that he could " only imper- 
fectly imagine the extent of those overtures." It must 
be said that if Monroe actually represented, as Pichon's 
statements strongly imply, that England had made over- 
tures, he overstep]3ed the truth. Only one or two un- 

1 Pichon to Talleyrand, 4 Pluviose, An XI. (January 24, 1803), Ar- 
chives des Affaires Etrangferes. Quoted in Adams, History of the United 
States, I. 437. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 611 

authorized suggestions of an alliance from the British 
minister, Thornton, had been received. Nevertheless, 
Pichon was well warranted in taking the toast which had 
recently been proposed by General Smith at a banquet — 
" Peace, if peace is honorable ; war, if war is necessary " 
— as a conclusive expression of the American position. 

Some of Secretary Madison's affirmations regarding 
the question at issue and its future bearings sound so 
strange to-day that it is difficult to appreciate how 
generally they were concurred in a hundred years ago. 
New Orleans, he urged, was in itself of no value to 
the United States ; the location was bad and would 
doubtless be abandoned for another east of the river. 
The United States had no disposition whatever to acquire 
territory beyond the Mississippi, or to take the slightest 
step in that direction. This river was clearly designated 
by nature to be the permanent boundary between the 
t'rench possessions and the United States. It would 
be far from the interest of the United States to acquire 
Lands west of the river, or to suffer her people to emigrate 
:hither. For settlement in that region would inevitably 
result in the birth of a rival nation, since it was not to 
be thought of that the United States could ever govern 
territory beyond the Mississippi. This would mean end- 
Less strife between the two English-speaking nations on 
opposite sides of the river. All in all, it was highly 
desirable to the United States that the French continue 
m their western possessions, although Spain would have 
made the better neighbor. 

The departure of Monroe had its anticipated effect. 
rhe country became more quiet than for two or three 



512 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

years. The disposition patiently to await the outcome 
was all but universal. For more than a month the matter 
was not mentioned officially at Washington. Then Jeffer- 
son broke the silence by asking the Cabinet what should 
be done in case Napoleon refused to accede to any of the 
envoy's demands. The consensus of opinion was that in 
such event they should " use all possible procrastination " 
with France, and enter as expeditiously as possible into an 
alliance with the British, though care should be exercised 
to postpone the war, at least until the following spring, 
to allow the United States time to prepare. Jefferson 
reached the high tide of his new British proclivities in 
proposing that England be allowed to take Louisiana for 
herself — a suggestion which, however, was unanimously 
rejected by the Cabinet. 

Had Jefferson, INIadison, and the other Republican 
leaders only known tlie real purposes of Napoleon, they 
would have been spared this exhibition of gross inconsist- 
ency between their present foreign policy and that of ten 
years before. Napoleon had absolutely no thought of 
engaging in a war with the United States, except as a 
very remote possibility after his European plans should 
have been realized. In fact, he was finding it quite out of 
the question even to take possession of the American terri- 
tory secured to him by the treaty of San Ildefonso. The 
kingdom of Etruria which he had engaged himself to 
create and bestow on Don Carlos's son-in-law was still in 
a very inchoate condition, and Godoy, strongly suspecting 
the First Consul of treachery, was proceeding on the the- 
ory that the treaty had not been kept and that Louisiana 
therefore still rightfully belonged to Spain. The Missis- 



XI THE LOUISIANA PLKCHASE 513 

sippi question was considered by the Spanish authorities 
us one which it woukl remain with them to settle. On the 
llith of April Yrujo, who was always more of a friend to 
Jefferson than to Napoleon, exultingiy informed Secretary 
Madison that Don Carlos had repudiated Morales's action, 
and that the right of deposit at New Orleans would be 
forthwith restored. ^ The governor of the latter place had 
been ordered from Madrid to make adequate provision for 
the accommodation of the western traders. Deep regret 
was expressed at the inconvenience occasioned by the in- 
tendant's order, and the President was tendered a flatter- 
ing statement of gratitude for his careful and considerate 
course in the recent breach. 

Had the continuance of Spanish possession at New 
Orleans been assured to the satisfaction of the President 
and his advisers, this turn of affairs would have ended the 
whole matter, and Monroe's mission would have been 
brought to a sudden stop. Why negotiate with Napoleon 
for territory that belonged to another power, or for com- 
mercial rights which were already possessed at the hand of 
another government? But that Napoleon would eventu- 
ally take possession of Louisiana the Administration did not 
for a moment doubt, and therefore, while pleased with the 
conciliatory course of the Spanish, it was not supposed 
that the reversal of Morales's order would mean anything 
a year or two hence, when the French flag should be flying 
over New Orleans. The negotiations at Paris were 
accordingly to be maintained. And it is well that they 
were ; for otherwise the splendid opportunity which was 

1 Madison to Livingston and Monroe, April 18, 1803, American State 
Papers, I. 550. 

2l 



514 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

soon to be offered for the only permanent adjustment of 
the question might have been lost. 

Although about the time of Monroe's appointment Napo- 
leon was gathering a fleet for the reduction of the Spanish 
power at New Orleans, and was declaring his purpose to 
raise Louisiana to a degree of strength which would make 
the province easily capable of self-defence in time of war, 
he was already being forced to acknowledge to himself that 
French prospects in America were anything but bright. 
News came that the campaign in St. Domingo had utterly 
failed, that Leclerc was dead, and that the pacification of 
this indispensable base of operations against Louisiana 
would require efforts more gigantic and costs more appall- 
ing than even those of the past two or three years. Within 
a twelvemonth fifty thousand men had been consumed in 
the island like water on a thirsty desert. Such waste of 
men and money not even Napoleon could afford — not to 
mention the stigma attached to defeat by a handful of dis- 
organized negroes. The soldiers murmured ominously at 
the suggestion of another St. Domingan campaign, with 
its inevitable end of death, and probably inglorious death 
by fever at that. It was one of the elements of strength 
of Napoleon, although several times he was brought 
thereby into popular discredit, that he knew when to 
abandon an enterprise whose disastrous end he foresaw. 
St. Domingo could not be conquered. It must be aban- 
doned. The question was. How could it be abandoned 
and yet the world be blinded to the fact that defeat forced 
the move ? 

With characteristic stolidity Napoleon worked out the 
answer. No one was taken into his confidence, not even 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 615 

Talleyrand, until the plan was complete. The earliest 
manifestation of a change of policy was a message sent to 
the Corps Legislatif, F'ebruaiy 20, in which England was 
referred to in terms so bitter that it was at once suspected 
by many that the First Consul's intention was to reopen 
the war with that nation. Livingston scented the new 
line of action, and rightly surmised that it meant an aban- 
donment of the St. Domingan and Louisiana projects. 
And when, on the 12th of March, he was himself a witness 
of the famous scene in Madame Bonaparte's drawing-room 
where Napoleon declared excitedly to the British ambas- 
sador, Whitworth, that he " must either have Malta or 
war," there could no longer be doubt as to what was com- 
ing. ^ This was only four days after Monroe's departure 
from the United States. The contingency for which 
Jefferson had been waiting was at hand, though of course 
he knew it not for many a day after. Both powers com- 
menced promptly to prepare for the titanic strviggle. The 
taking possession of Louisiana was indefinitely postponed, 
as Napoleon felt now it could be without loss of prestige, 
in view of the larger undertaking in which he was about 
to engage. It was just at this point that Godoy, who 
hated Napoleon and took unfeigned delight in discomfiting 
him, secured the overruling of Morales's closure of the 
Mississippi. This was the earliest moment that Spain had 
dared take such action, but thereafter the attitude of the 
Spaniards toward the United States continued to be most 
flattering. 

Before they were made public Napoleon's new plans 
came to involve nothing less tlian the alienation of 
1 Livingston to Madison, March 12, 1803, American State Papers, I. 547. 



516 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Louisiana. Even if the territory could be made French, 
it could not be defended against England's navy in the 
war now about to begin. That the English ministry was 
bent even more intensely upon the defeat of Napoleon's 
scheme of colonial revival than his ambition for dominance 
in Europe was plainly understood. " If you can obtain 
Louisiana — well," Prime Minister Addington liad said to 
Ruf us King ; " if not, we ought to prevent its going into 
the hands of France." ^ To lose Louisiana gracefully, and 
without losing it to England, was now the clearly deter- 
mined polic}^ of the First Consul. 

On Sunday, April 10, while Monroe was on his way 
from Havre to Paris, Napoleon summoned Talleyrand and 
Barbe-Marbois, ministers of foreign affairs and finance 
respectively, to meet him in secret council after the 
Easter services at St. Cloud. It was on this occasion 
that the plan which had heretofore been barely suggested 
to Talleyrand was explained in detail. With unusual 
force the First Consul dwelt upon the reasons for such 
a step — how that St. Domingo was lost, and without 
St. Domingo Louisiana could not be reduced ; how, even 
if Louisiana could be made French, it could not be 
defended against the superior naval strength of the Eng- 
lish ; and how it was very well known that the subver- 
sion of the French colonial scheme was to be England's 
chief aim in the struggle just begun. To his ministers 
Napoleon declared : " I think of ceding it [Louisiana] to 
the United States. I can scarcely say that I cede it to 
them, for it is not yet in our possession. If, however, 

1 Rufus Kiug to Madison, April 2, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
651. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 617" 

I leave the least time, I shall only transmit an empty title 
to those republicans whose friendship I seek. They ask 
of me only one town in Louisiana ; but I already consider 
the colony as entirely lost ; and it appears to me that in 
the hands of this young power it will be more useful 
to the policy, and even to the commerce, of France, than 
if I should attempt to keep it." ^ 

Marbois, who was an ardent republican and very friendly 
to the United States, thought well of the plan, though 
Talleyrand was rather skeptical. To Napoleon, of course, 
it really mattered very little what his ministers thought. 
On the following day Marbois was called at early dawn 
into the presence of the First Consul, where he heard the 
following characteristically laconic and expressive deliver- 
ance : " Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in 
season ; I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans 
that I cede ; it is the whole colony, without reserve. I 
know the price of what I abandon. ... I renounce it 
with the greatest regret ; to attempt obstinately to retain 
it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate the affair. 
Have an interview this very day with INIr. Livingston." ^ 

It was not Marbois, but Talleyrand, however, who first 
broached the matter to the American minister. On the 
day of Marbois's commission Talleyrand took occasion to 
inquire of Livingston whether the United States would 
care to purchase all of Louisiana, and what they would 
be willing to pay for it, explaining that he did not "speak 
from authority, but that the idea had struck him."^ 

1 Barb^-Marbois, Histoire de la Louisiane, 286. 2 ii)Ui^ 208. 

8 Livingston to Madison, April 11, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
552. 



518 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Livingston was naturally somewhat taken aback by the 
suggestion. He had asked for a mere crumb and had 
been tendered the whole loaf. After pleading so long 
and earnestly, and withal so ineffectually, for "barren 
sands and sunken marshes," "a small town built of 
wood," and "an insignificant strip of land valuable to 
the United States but only a drain of resources from 
France," 1 it was somewhat disconcerting to be asked 
complacently whether he would care to have all the 
region between the Mississippi and the Rockies. 

After regaining his composure, Livingston bethought 
himself that, if the credit of achieving such a consumma- 
tion was to be exclusively his own, the transaction must 
be effected without delay. For Monroe was hourly ex- 
pected — had indeed arrived at Saint-Germain late Mon- 
day night, April 11. At one o'clock the next day he was 
at his Paris hotel. Still there was a little time in which 
an agreement might be reached before the envoy should 
be ready to take part in the negotiation. On Tuesday, 
the day of Monroe's arrival, Livingston labored hard to 
get Talleyrand to commit himself to some definite state- 
ment regarding the sale of at least New Orleans and the 
Floridas. But the foreign minister was not of the sort 
to make a bargain so readily. Duplicity, subtle awaken- 
ing of hopes without confirmation, contempt for the feel- 
ings of others, were his stock in trade. As soon as he 
perceived Livingston's sudden anxiety he assumed the 
most tantalizing indifference on the whole subject. He 
knew nothing, had heard nothing, had said nothing, could 

1 Livingston to Napoleon, February 27, 1803, Amei'ican State Papers, 
II. 539. 



1 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 619 

promise nothing. He even declared emphatically that 
Louisiana did not belong to France. That the making 
of a treaty of retrocession between France and Spain had 
been talked about he admitted, but that such a treaty 
had never been made he was quite sure.^ Livingston 
had seen the treaty with his own eyes and told Talley- 
rand so. But the latter was not affected in the least by 
such testimony and insisted that no such treaty was in 
existence. Considering the impatience of Livingston to 
effect the purchase without Monroe's aid, this brazen con- 
duct on the part of Talleyrand must have been almost too 
much to be endured with equanimity. 

The chance was lost, for by Tuesday evening Monroe 
was ready to begin work. On that evening he called on 
Livingston, and the two decided to spend the next day 
in arranging papers preparatory to the joint negotiation, 
which was to begin as soon as Monroe could be presented 
at court. 2 The following afternoon, — Wednesday, — after 
the papers were arranged, a party was entertained at 
dinner in Livingston's apartments. During the dinner 
Livingston saw Marbois whiling away the time in an outer 
garden, and sent an invitation to the genial Frenchman 
to become one of the party. The invitation was accepted, 
and over the coffee-cups Livingston detailed to Marbois 

1 Livingston to Madison, April 13, 1803, Amei-ican State Papers, II. 
552. In a letter to Madison, April 15, Monroe wrote, "I was informed 
on my arrival here, by Mr. Skipwith, that Mr. Livingston, mortified at my 
appointment, had done everything in his power to turn the occurrences in 
America, and even my mission to his account, by pressing the government 
on every point with a view to show that he had accomplished what was 
wished without my aid." Monroe's Writings, IV. 9. 

■■2 Livingston to Madison, April 13, 1803, Americaii State Papers, II. 
552. 



520 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

liis recent interview with Talleyrand and particularly the 
latter's exasperating conduct when the Louisiana question 
was raised. 1 Marbois in a rather non-committal way gave 
Livingston to understand that he was himself possessed 
of some information relative to the First Consul's plans 
for Louisiana, and intimated that if the American minister 
would call at his residence after the dinner party had 
broken up, he might learn something of interest. 

After the guests had departed, Monroe with them, 
Livingston hastened to Marbois's quarters, and in the 
course of the midnight interview which followed the 
first definite proposition for the sale of Louisiana was 
made. The finance minister's price, to which Napoleon 
had assented, was about 125,000,000 francs, of which one- 
fifth was to be paid to citizens of the United States who 
had claims against France. Despite the fact that he had 
been empowered to give as much as $10,000,000 merely 
for New Orleans and the Floridas, Livingston did not 
at once assent to the idea" of purchasing all Louisiana, 
although even at Marbois's price it was of course ab- 
surdly cheap. He had learned by his experience with 
Talleyrand not to display too much anxiety on the sub- 
ject. Being assured that the United States did not care 
to acquire the region west of the Mississippi, and would 
not in any case pay the price asked, Marbois lowered his 
figure to 80,000,000 francs, including the claims. Liv- 
ingston still protested that the United States did not 
want Louisiana, that they would be perfectly satisfied 
with New Orleans and the Floridas, and that it was 
useless for the French ministers to make offers of the 
1 Monroe to Madison, April 15, 1803, Monroe's Writings, IV. 10. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 621 

territory beyond the Mississippi. With the emphatic 
assertion that the United States could not and would not 
pay any such sums as had been named for Louisiana, 
Livingston brought the conference to an end. 

Nevertheless, he was greatly pleased with the turn 
affairs had taken. And it was at least no matter for 
regret that the turn had occurred before Monroe had 
been able to take any active part in the negotiation. 
That this important feature might not be overlooked by 
the government at home, Livingston sat down about three 
o'clock in the morning and wrote to Secretary Madison 
a detailed account of the interview which he had just 
had with IVIarbois, and expressed the opinion that the 
United States could well afford to make the purchase 
at the price named, though every means would be em- 
ployed to reduce it. The money might be raised, he 
thought, by the sale of the territory to some European 
power whose proximity the United States would have no 
reason to fear.^ 

Delay in dealing with Napoleon was always hazardous, 
but for more than two weeks Monroe and Livington 
risked a withdrawal of the offer in an effort to reduce the 
price demanded. Any one of a score of possible contin- 
gencies might have impelled the First Consul to show 
an entirely different front. Had tlie commissioners been 
aware of incidents which were daily occurring in the 
Tuileries, they would doubtless have seized the first oppor- 
tunity to close the bargain. For to purchase Louisiana 
they in a very short time became pretty well resolved. 

1 Livingston to Madison, April 13, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
552. 



522 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

There seemed, indeed, to be but one alternative. Napo- 
leon had determined to sell ; they must either buy or 
incur his extreme displeasure. Instructions from America 
for the larger negotiation could not be awaited. By 
effecting the purchase as speedily as possible the commis- 
sioners could secure all that the United States was ask- 
ing and vastly more besides. The additional acquisition 
could be sold to pay the cost of the whole. Thus the 
United States would drive a shrewd bargain which would 
at once gain her immediate ends in New Orleans and the 
Floridas, and at the same time free her from fear of a 
French j)ower in the West — and all at absolutely no 
expense financially. Verily, it was a scheme to be proud 
of, and the realization of it was to be the crowning act of 
political sagacity and patriotic endeavor on the part of 
the American ministers. 

Among the French people the project of alienating 
Louisiana was far from popular. By many it was re- 
garded as a base betrayal of his country's interests by the 
^ man who, it was beginning to be suspected, had already 
been guilty of such an offence on the famous eighteenth 
Brumaire. Napoleon's position was now so secure, however, 
that he had small occasion for deference to popular opinion. 
Under the veiled monarchical system of the day such 
opinion had scant means of expression. So that, though 
the threatened retrenchment in America was regarded 
with keen regret by that large element of the people 
whose heart was set upon the revival of the old colonial 
empire and who had trusted Napoleon to realize their 
hopes, little was said openly against the sale. 

In the First Consul's own household the situation was 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 523 

far otherwise. The brothers, Lucien and Joseph, were 
thrown into a storm of passion by Napoleon's proposal. 
Particularly was Lucien enraged, because it w^as he who 
had negotiated the treaty of San Ildefonso, by which 
France had regained Louisiana and had solemnly bound 
herself not to alienate it. Although the fact was not 
known to INIonroe and Livingston, the bare suggestion 
of the sale induced a desperate quarrel among the three 
brothers and for a while greatly endangered the project. 
It is probable, however, that Napoleon finally became only 
the more determined upon the execution of his plan as 
an illustration to his brothers of the uselessness of tlieir 
opposition. Lucien and Joseph insisted that the Legisla- 
tive Chambers would never allow the cession. Napoleon 
gave them to understand that the Chambers were not to 
be consulted. 

The story of the most picturesque incident in the quarrel 
of the three brothers over the Louisiana question is well 
told in the Memoires written by Lucien nine years after the 
occurrence.^ Coming home one evening to dress for the 
theatre, Lucien found Joseph awaiting him with the news 
of Napoleon's purpose — news which, as Joseph rightly 
guessed, would hardly make Lucien feel like amusing him- 
self. Instead of going to the theatre, the two brothers 
spent the evening in formulating a plan whereby to thwart 
the intended action. It was agreed that an interview 
should be sought with the First Consul the next morning. 
Lucien was to seek an audience first, and Joseph was to 

1 Theodore Jung, Lucien Bonaparte et ses Memoires [Paris, 1882], II. 
128-154 passim. Reproduced in Adams, History of the United States, 
II. 33 et seq. 



624 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

present himself somewhat later, as if without any previous 
understanding. It was agreed to await Napoleon's men- 
tion of the subject, lest he be angered by his brothers' 
audacity. Lucien tells us that during the night he care- 
fully rehearsed all the arguments at his command against 
the proposed sale, and determined at least to persuade 
Napoleon to consult the Chambers on the subject, which, 
as Lucien knew, would result in an adverse vote. This, 
it may be said, was just as well known to Napoleon, and to 
incur opposition in that quarter was no part of his plan. 

The next morning, according to agreement, Lucien 
sought the First Consul. That august personage was 
found in an excellent humor, enjoying the luxuries of his 
perfumed bath. Various matters were talked of, but not 
one word was ventured concerning the thing uppermost in 
the minds of both. " It was almost time to leave the bath, 
and ... we had not discussed Louisiana any more than 
we had the year forty," writes Lucien. " I was vexed at 
it, but the nearer the last moment of speaking of it ap- 
proached, the more I put off doing so. The body-servant 
was already holding the sheet prepared to wrap his master 
in ; I was about to leave the place, when Rustan [one 
of the Consul's lackeys] scratched at the door like a 
cat." 

The arrival of Joseph was announced. Napoleon called 
out that his brother might enter and that he would remain 
in the bath a quarter of an hour longer. Lucien indicated 
to the newcomer by a sign that the Louisiana question had 
not been mentioned. While Joseph was manifesting ex- 
treme perplexity as to how best to broach the subject, 
Napoleon himself relieved the situation by addressing to 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 626 

him the question, " Well, brother, so you have not spoken 
to Lucien ? " 

" About what ? " asked Joseph. 

" About our plan in regard to Louisiana, you know," 
was the reply. 

Joseph hastened to amend the answer by suggesting 
that the plan was none of his. 

Designating Joseph as "preacher" and "mister grum- 
bler," Napoleon said he would talk further of the matter 
after he had left the bath, but that he might as well state 
that he had "decided to sell Louisiana to the Americans." 
Lucien, who was supposed to be in ignorance of the entire 
[)roject, endeavored to express by a simple " Ah ! Ah ! " 
such mild surprise as might be expected of one in that 
position. Napoleon, however, professed to understand the 
exclamation as indicating a definite approval, and pro- 
ceeded to contrast Lucien's submissiveness with Joseph's 
pugnacity. Joseph hastened to explain that Lucien's 
views were identical with his own. This forced an open 
acknowledgment from Lucien, and also the confession that 
lie flattered himself the Chambers would not give their 
consent to the sale of Louisiana. 

" You flatter yourself ! " cried Napoleon, with cutting 
irony; "that is fine, in truth." 

Upon Joseph's inquiring whether or not it was the pur- 
pose of the First Consul to make the sale without consult- 
ing the Chambers, the latter replied, " Precisely ; that is 
what I have taken the great liberty of saying to Mr. Joseph, 
and what I repeat here to Citizen Lucien, begging him to 
tell me his opinion about it also, himself, apart from his 
paternal tenderness for his diplomatic conquest." 



526 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Then once more preparing to leave the bath, the First 
Consul declared suddenly in a tone " loud enough to make 
us turn round " : " And then, gentlemen, think what you 
please about it, but give this affair up as lost, both of you ; 
you, Lucien, on account of the sale in itself, you, Joseph, 
because I shall get along without the consent of any one 
whomsoever, do you understand ? " 

Lucien believed subsequently that the smile which in- 
evitably forced itself to his face at the deliverance of these 
words was the real cause of "-the tempest which was brew- 
ing, not in a tea-pot, according to the proverb, but rather 
in the bath-tub of him who was beginning to make all 
the sovereigns of Europe quake." The most immediate 
provocation, however, was given by Josei^h, who, 
approaching the bath, exclaimed with much force, 
" And you will do well, my dear brother, not to expose 
your plan to parliamentary discussion, for I declare to 
you that I am the first one to place himself, if it is 
necessary, at the head of the opposition which cannot fail 
to be made to you." 

Lucien was prevented from making a similar declaration 
by the " more than Olympian bursts of laughter " of the 
First Consul. Flushed with anger, Joseph cried : " Laugh, 
laugh, laugh, then ! None the less I will do what I say, 
and, although I do not like to mount the tribune, this 
time they shall see me there." 

Napoleon was ready with a rejoinder. " You will have 
no need," he asserted, " to stand forth as orator of the 
opposition, for I rej)eat to you that this discussion will 
not take place, for the reason that the plan wliich is not 
fortunate enough to obtain your approbation, conceived 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 527 

by me, negotiated by me, will be ratified and executed 
by me all alone, do you understand ? by me, who snap 
my fingers at your opposition." 

The quarrel was becoming fast and furious. Lucien 
declares he wished to leave the scene but dared not do so. 
To another of Joseph's fierce denunciations Napoleon 
attempted an enraged reply : " You are an insolent fellow ! 
I ought — " The rest of the sentence, if indeed it was 
spoken, cannot be reported, for just at that moment the 
First Consul made a violent motion in the water which 
resulted in a drenching of all the surrounding objects, in- 
cluding Joseph. Lucien tells us that he was luckily pro- 
tected from this aquatic explosion by the greater distance 
at which he was standing. " I observed only then," he 
continues, " that following the difference existing between 
the two characters, exasperated, as it seemed to me, to the 
same pitch, the paleness of the Consul contrasted singu- 
larly with the redness of Joseph ; and finding myself by 
my sort of silent neutrality in the midst of sharp or offen- 
sive remarks, which had been exchanged, as it were raised 
to the height of the role of peacemaker, and yet not wish- 
ing to pose as one, I tried to attain this end by seeming 
to take what was going on as a sort of joke, and I quoted 
rather gayly, with a bombastic accent, the famous ' Quos 
ego ' ... of Virgil ; for in fact the image of Neptune 
rebuking the waves let loose in spite of him had seemed 
to my mind just a little ludicrous, and the ' I ought' of 
the Neptune of the bath-tub alone reaching my ear com- 
pleted for me in action, at least in parody, the literary 
translation of the celebrated reticence, the first subject of 
admiration for young Latinists." 



528 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Anger was overcome in the ludicrous aspects of the 
situation. Dripping and sputtering, Joseph beat a hasty 
retreat to secure a change of clothing, while the First Con- 
sul surrendered himself into the hands of the valet who, 
according to some accounts at least, had fainted from 
fright at one stage of the altercation. Subsequently, in 
a calmer conversation with Lucien, Napoleon expressed 
the conviction that recent experience in St. Domingo had 
demonstrated that national glory would never come to 
France from the marine, that Louisiana was certain to 
be lost in an}^ event, and that it was highly expedient 
to dispose of the territory while it was yet possible to 
secure thereby some funds with which to prosecute the 
war with England. For Lucien's continued recurrence 
to the question of constitutionality Napoleon cherished 
only the supremest contempt. " Constitution ! uncon- 
stitutional! republic! national sovereignty! — big words ! 
great phrases ! . . . Ah, it becomes you well, Sir Knight 
of the Constitution, to talk so to me ! You had not 
the same respect for the Chambers on the eighteenth 
Brumaire." This thrust was a keen one, inasmuch as 
Lucien had been President of the Council of Five Hun- 
dred on the occasion referred to, and had betrayed that 
body to his brother without a show of compunction. "If 
I were not your brother, I would be your enemy," de- 
clared Lucien in conclusion of the interview. To which 
Napoleon replied by flinging his snuff-box on the floor 
and exclaiming : " You my enemy ! I would break you, 
look, like this box." 

Such scenes in the Tuileries were frequent. On one 
occasion, we are told, the controversy between Joseph and 



^i THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 529 

Napoleon became so violent that the latter fled for refuge 
to the private apartments of Josephine. But of all this 
:ylonroe and Livingston were ignorant. The negotiations 
dragged. Marbois's lowest price had been refused, and 
each side waited for the other to move. Monroe was 
hindered by illness. Livingston was growing impatient. 
Both were yet in a mood to be persuaded, if necessary, 
to strike a reasonable bargain for New Orleans and the 
Floridas and let go the Louisiana proposition. At the 
end of two weeks after Monroe's arrival the desired 
settlement seemed in some respects farther from realiza- 
tion than at any time since Marbois's first advances were 
made to Livingston. Yet in truth the making of the 
treaty was near at hand. 

There is considerable uncertainty about the exact se- 
quence of events during the closing days of the negotia- 
tion, but it seems that it was Napoleon who broke the 
deadlock, and that he did so by placing in the hands of 
Marbois, April 23, the projet of a secret convention with 
the United States, to be communicated at once to the 
American commissioners.^ This projet provided for the 
cession of Louisiana, in return for the granting of several 
concessions by the United States, including the free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, perpetual right of deposit at six 
points on the river, the payment to France of 100,000,000 
francs, and the liquidation of American claims left unpro- 
vided for by the Convention of 1800. On the 27th of 
April Marbois met Livingston and Monroe at the latter's 
lodgings and laid before them Napoleon's projet. Monroe 
had recovered from his illness only sufficiently to be able 

1 Correspundance de Napoleon Premier, VIII. 289. 
2u 



530 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

to recline on a sofa. Marbois and Livingston toolv their 
position at a table near by and the work began. Marbois 
admitted at the outset that Napoleon's terms were rather 
high and, instead of insisting upon these as indispensable, 
brought forward another projet of his own devising which 
he believed his master would accept.^ 

After several hours' discussion Marbois took his de- 
parture, and Monroe and Livingston were free to canvass 
the matter between themselves. The result was the 
drawing up of a contre -projet, which fixed the price of 
Louisiana at 70,000,000 francs — 50,000,000 to be paid 
directly to France and the remainder to French creditors 
in the United States. ^ This pro]30sition was submitted 
to Marbois on the 29th. He declared emphatically, how- 
ever, that it was useless to offer less than 80,000,000 
francs for the territory, including the claims, and the 
Americans at last yielded. The next morning their mod- 
ified projet was laid before Napoleon. May 1 Monroe 
and Livingston dined at the Tuileries. Nothing was 
said by the First Consul on this occasion respecting 
Louisiana, except that the question should be promptly 
settled.^ That evening the commissioners had their final 
interview with Marbois on the subject. The day follow- 
ing. May 2, the treaty of cession was signed. It speci- 
fied that 60,000,000 francs be paid direct to France.^ 
Within the next week the amount of American claims 
was estimated definitely at 20,000,000 francs ; so that 
the total purchase price of Louisiana was 80,000,000 
francs, or practically $15,000,000. All documents per- 

1 Monroe's Memoranda, Writings, IV". 12-13. 2 jhid.^ 14. 

3 Ibid., 15. * Ibid., 17. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 531 

taining to the treaty were antedated to the 30th of 
April. 1 

After Livingston had set his name to the treat}^ he 
rose and shook hands with Monroe and Marbois. " We 
have lived long," he exclaimed, "but this is the noblest 
work of our lives. . . . The treaty we have signed has 

1 The text of the treaty is in the American State Papers, II. 507-509 ; 
the Annals of Congress (1802-1803), 1004-1007; Treaties and Conven- 
tions between the United States and other Poivers, 2G0-286 ; United States 
Statutes at Large, VIII. 200-206 ; and MacDonald, Select Documents, 
160-165. The literature on the subject of the Louisiana Turchase is very 
extensive. Among source materials should be mentioned the American 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, II. 525-544 ; the Annals of Congress 
(1802-1803), 1007-1210; Jefferson's Account of Louisiana, being an 
Abstract of Documents in the Offices of the Departments of State and 
of the Treasury [Philadelphia, 1803] ; Jefferson's Works (Ford's ed.). 
Vol. VIII.; Monroe's Writings, Vol. IV.; the Correspondance de Na- 
poleon Premier ; and Theodore Jung, Lucien Bonaparte et ses Memoires. 
A convenient collection of original materials is the '' State Papers and 
Correspondence bearing upon the Purchase of the Territory of Louisi- 
ana," 57th Cong., second sess., House Document No. 431. General ac- 
counts of the Purchase are as follows : Adams, History of the United 
States, I. Chs. XIII.-XVII. and II. Chs. I.-VI. (the best) ; James K. Hosmer, 
History of the Louisiana Purchase; McMaster, History of the People of 
the United States, II. 621-635 ; Binger Hermann, The Louisiana Purchase; 
Lyman, TJie Diplomacy of the United States, I. Ch. IX. ; Gilman, James 
Monroe, 77-96 ; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, Ch. XIV.; Barb^- Marbois, His- 
toire de la Louisiane, et de la cession de cette colonic par la France aux 
Etats-Unis de V Amerique [Paris, 1829] ; Gayarrg, History of Louisiana, 
in. Ch.VIII. ; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, IV. Ch. VI. ; Thomas 
M. Cooley, "The Acquisition of Louisiana," in the hidiana Historical 
Society Publications, II. 65-93; Daniel R. Goodloe, "The Purchase of 
Louisiana," in the Publications of the Southern History Association, IV. 
149-172; C. F. Robertson, "The Louisiana Purchase in its Influence 
upon the American System," in the Papers of the American Historical 
Association, I. 253-290; and N. P. Langford, "The Louisiana Purchase 
and Preceding Spanish Intrigues for Dismemberment of the Union," in 
the Minnesota Historical Society Collections, IX. 453-508. There is a 
good bibliography of the Louisiana Purchase, prepared by Professor J. F. 
Jameson, in Oilman's James Monroe, Appendix. 



532 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

not been brought about by finesse nor dictated by force. 
Equally advantageous to both the contracting parties, 
it will change vast solitudes into a flourishing country. 
To-day the United States take their j)lace among the 
powers of the first rank. . . . The instrument we have 
signed will cause no tears to flow. It will prepare cen- 
turies of happiness for innumerable generations of the 
human race. The Mississippi and the Missouri will see 
them prosper and increase in the midst of equality, under 
just laws, freed from the errors of superstition, from the 
scourges of bad government, and truly worthy of the re- 
gard and care of Providence." Napoleon was likewise 
pleased with the outcome. " The negotiation leaves me 
nothing to wish," he declared. " Sixty millions for an 
occupation that will not perhaps last a day ! The sale 
assures forever the power of the United States, and I 
have given England a rival who, sooner or later, will 
humble her pride." The 60,000,000 francs received for 
the territory, intended at one time to be devoted to the 
construction of canals in France, were eventually con- 
sumed in the First Consul's vain preparations for an 
invasion of England. 

The actual extent of the territory thus acquired by the 
United States long remained a matter of dispute. The 
subject of boundaries was one with which Napoleon and 
his agents refused to deal except in the most vague terms. 
When Livingston had asked Talleyrand to designate the 
eastern boundaries of Louisiana the latter simply replied 
that he did not know what they were — that the United 
States must take the territory as France received it from 
Spain. When asked further as to what France had meant 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 633 

to receive from Spain, tiie crafty minister only replied that 
he did not know. "• I can give you no direction," he de- 
clared ; "• you have made a noble bargain for yourselves, 
and I suppose you will make the most of it." Napoleon, 
when appealed to by Marbois for a definite understanding 
on the subject, made answer that the Americans sliould be 
left in tlie dark in this matter, and that " if an obscurity 
did not already exist, it would perhaps be good policy to 
put one there." The First Consul had long ago decided 
what the boundaries were, and Talleyrand at the time of 
his conversation with Livingston had his chief's written 
explanation of them in his desk ; but not a word was 
vouchsafed the Americans to save them from weary 
years of uncertainty, wrangling, and threatened war along 
the disputed borders of Louisiana. ^ 

Certain it is that the Floridas were not included in the 

1 Article I. of the treaty, which alone dealt with the matter of boun- 
daries, was as follows : " Whereas, by the article the third of the Treaty 
concluded at St. Ildefonso (the 9th Vend^miaire, An 9), October 1, 1800, 
between the First Consul of the French Republic and His Catholic Maj- 
esty, it was agreed as follows : His Catholic Majesty promises and engages 
on his part to cede to the French Republic, six months after the full and 
entire execution of the conditions and stipulations herein, relative to his 
Royal Highness the Duke of Parma the Colony or Province of Louisiana, 
with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had 
when France possessed it ; and such as it should be after the treaties sub- 
sequently entered into between Spain and other States : And whereas, in 
pursuance of the Treaty, particularly of the third article, the French Re- 
public has an incontestable title to the domain and to the possession of 
the said territory, the First Consul of the French Republic, desiring to 
give to the United States a strong proof of friendship, doth hereby cede 
to the said United States, in the name of the French Republic, for ever 
and in full sovereignty, the said territory, with all its rights and appur- 
tenances, as fully and in the same manner as they might have been 
acquired by the French Republic, in value of the above-mentioned treaty, 
concluded with His Catholic Majesty." 



534 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

purchase, though, as we shall see, there was no small 
amount of doubt concerning the boundary between Louisi- 
ana and West Florida. The Floridas were still Spanish, 
having been rescued by Godoy from the final treaty of 
San Ildefonso which received the signature of Don Carlos 
in October, 1802. It was the Floridas, rather than Lou- 
isiana, which Monroe and Livingston had been commis- 
sioned to purchase. 13ut, finding that these territories 
still belonged to Spain, all that the American representa- 
tives could do in negotiating at Paris was to seek the aid 
of the French in bringing Spain to the point of making a 
cession of the desired lands to the United States. Liv- 
ingston upon one occasion stipulated as a necessary con- 
dition of the purchase of Louisiana that France give the 
United States assistance of this sort.^ Napoleon refused, 
however, to pledge himself upon the subject in the treaty. 
A verbal promise to use his influence for the transfer of 
Florida to the United States was as far as he would go. 

Although Louisiana had exchanged owners not fewer 
than three times, no one pretended to know its actual 
boundaries. Napoleon had decided what he would claim 
them to be, but this decision was wholly arbitrary, as his 
decisions generally were. It was commonly understood 
that the territory extended northward to the source of the 
Mississippi, but the location of this was yet a matter of 
mere conjecture. By some it was believed that Texas 
westward to the Rio Grande belonged to the purchase, on 
the strength of La Salle's accidental landing at the bay 
of St. Louis in 1684. But this view did not generally 

1 Livingston to Madison, April 13, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
652. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 535 

prevail.^ Until recent years it -was thought that the 
purcliase included all the territory between the forty- 
second parallel and the British lands on the north, 
west to the Pacific, thus embracing the present states 
of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Even as late as 
1897 the Government Land Office was publishing maps 
I)ased on this conception. After a very careful investi- 
gation of the whole subject, Mr. Binger Hermann, re- 
cently Commissioner of the Land Office, has shown 
conclusively that no one supposed at the time tlie pur- 
chase was made that it extended beyond tlie Rocky 
Mountains, and, further, that under the terms of the 
treaty itself no transmontane territory could be consid- 
ered as changed in ownership.^ France, when first in pos- 
session of Louisiana, prior to 1763, never regarded her 
claims as reaching farther than the head waters of the 
tributaries of the Mississippi. And by the first article of 
the treaty it was this original Louisiana which was ceded 
by France in 1803. The Oregon territory was acquired 
by the United States in 1846, but on grounds wholly 
aside from the Louisiana Purchase. Nevertheless, the 
impression lingered until our own day that this region 
had really been included in the cession from France. 

^ See John R. Ficklen, " The Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas," in the «/ 
Puhlications of the Southern History Association, V. 351-388. By the 
treaty of 1819 the United States forfeited to Spain whatever claim to 
Texas she may have had on the basis of the Louisiana Purcliase. The 
agitation which finally resulted in the incorporation of Texas with the 
United States in 1845 was enlivened by the popular cry for the rean- 
nexatiou of Texas, — as if it were a matter merely of getting back territory 
that had once belonged to us. 

2 Binger Hermann, The Louisiana Purchase and our Title West of 
the Rocky Mountains, 70. 



536 THE OPEiSriNG OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The area of the purchase, definitel}'' understood at last, 
was 875,025 square miles. The total area of the United 
States at the time was but slightly greater, i.e. 909,050 
square miles. The lands acquired may be defined in gen- 
eral as including New Orleans, the island on which the city 
stands, and the entire Mississippi Valley west of the river, 
together with the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico west- 
ward to the Sabine. By its acquisition a region was added 
which is more than seven times as large as Great Britain 
and Ireland, more than four times the size of the German 
Empire, or of Austria, or of France ; more than three 
times that of Spain and Portugal ; more than seven times 
that of Italy ; nearly ten times that of Turkey and 
Greece. It is larger, in fact, than Great Britain, Germany, 
France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy combined. ^ Concern- 
ing it Mr. James K. Hosmer well says : " Tales regarded 
as absurdly extravagant were told of the resources of the 
new countrjs but the facts have surpassed all that was fan- 
cied. It is probable that scarcely a square mile of the great 
region will ultimately prove unavailable for human uses, 
desert through much of it was long believed to be. There 
is no soil in the world more fertile than that bordering the 
Mississippi and its great affluents. Where the farmer 
fails of a chance, the ranchman can often find opportunity ; 
if Hocks and herds are out of the question, the lumberman 
is accommodated ; while in the absolute waste the miner 
finds coal, oil, and almost every metal that can be useful 
to man." 2 

It is certainly quite unnecessary to dwell upon the his- 

1 Binger Hermann, The Lnnisiana Purchase, 36. 

2 James K. Hosmer, lite History of the Louisiana Purchase, 183-184. 



XI THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 537 

torical importance of the Louisiana Purchase, both to the 
buying and the selling nation. As the most dignified way 
of escape from an embarrassing situation it seemed for a 
time to have been a happy move on the First Consul's part. 
It doubled the territory of a nation whose friendship he 
desired to maintain, and at the same time forestalled the 
aggrandizement of his arch-enemy, England, in the western 
world. Nevertheless, it is certain that Napoleon's high- 
lianded manner in alienating the territory without consult- 
ing the Chambers, and in flagrant violation of the wishes 
of the people generally, wrought no little injury to his 
credit with the French. And it may not be too much to 
affirm, as some of the best students of the period do, that 
the sale of Louisiana marked the turning-point in the First 
Consul's career, the place where the reaction against his 
plans and policies really began. 

Few events, if any, since the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion, have influenced the history of the United States as has 
the purchase of Louisiana. As Mr. John W. Foster well 
says in his Century of American Diplomacy : " It made 
the acquisition of Florida a necessity. It brought about 
the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the thirst for 
more slave territory to preserve the balance of power, the 
Civil War, and the abolition of slavery. It led to our 
Pacific coast possessions, the construction of the trans- 
continental lines of railway and our marvellous Rocky 
Mountain development, the demand for the Isthmus 
Canal, the purchase of Alaska, the annexation of Hawaii. 
It opened up to us the great field of commercial develop- 
ment beyond the Pacific in Japan, China, and the islands 
of the sea. It fixed our destiny as a great world power, 



538 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, xi 

the effects of which we are to-day just beginning to 
realize."^ One has only to conceive, if he can, the his- 
tory of our country with the Louisiana Purchase and its 
long chain of resultant events left out, to understand, in 
some degree at least, the cardinal significance of "the 
largest transaction in real estate which the world has 
ever known." 

1 John W. Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy, 204. 



CHAPTER XII 

CONGRESS AND THE PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL 
EXPANSION 

THE purchase of all Louisiana was a consummation 
wholly unexpected in the United States. In the 
instructions issued by President Jefferson and Secretary 
Madison to Monroe and Livingston this possible turn in 
the negotiation had not received the barest mention. 
Jefferson had hardly expected the commissioners to be 
able to secure New Orleans and the Floridas, much less 
the great region between the Mississippi and the Rockies. 
Even if it had been supposed by the Administration that 
such an extensive acquisition could be made, there would 
have been little or no disposition to urge a settlement on 
such a basis. For it was generally agreed that the United 
States had absolutely no need for territory beyond the 
natural boundary of the Mississippi. It may almost 
be said that Louisiana was forced on the United States. 
Napoleon was certainly the aggressive party in the nego- 
tiation. The greatest credit is due Jefferson for his 
statesmanlike conduct in connection with the entire affair, 
but it was rather as the organizer of Louisiana than as its 
purchaser that he achieved his best distinction. 

After the purchase had been concludcil, Monroe and 

539 



540 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Livingston could not but wonder how their work would 
be received in the United States. Deeply conscious that 
they had far exceeded their instructions, and yet just 
as certain that they had been serving their country's best 
interests, they sent an elaborate joint despatch, May 13, 
containing the following noteworthy justification of their 
course : "An acquisition of so great an extent was, we well 
know, not contemplated by our appointment ; but we are 
persuaded that the circumstances and considerations which 
induced us to make it will justify us in the measure 
to our Government and country. Before the negotiation 
commenced, we were apprised that the First Consul had 
decided to offer to the United States, by sale, the whole of 
Louisiana, and not a part of it. We found, in the outset, 
that this information was correct, so that we had to decide, 
as a previous question, whether we would treat for the 
whole, or jeopardize, if not abandon, the hope of acquiring 
any part. On that point we did not long hesitate, but 
proceeded to treat for the whole. . . . We found, as we 
advanced in the negotiation, that M. Marbois was abso- 
lutely restricted to the disposition of the whole, that he 
would treat for no less portion, and, of course, that it was 
useless to urge it. On mature consideration, therefore, 
we finally concluded a treaty on the best terms we could 
obtain for the whole. By this measure we have sought 
to carry into effect, to the utmost of our power, the wise 
and benevolent policy of our government, on the prin- 
ciples laid down in our instructions. The possession of 
the left bank of the river, had it been attainable alone, 
would, it is true, have accomplished much in that respect ; 
but it is equally true that it would have left much still to 



XII I'KOBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 541 

accomplish. B}' it our people would have had an outlet 
to the ocean, in which no Power would have the right to 
disturb them ; but while the other bank remained in the 
possession of a foreign Power, circumstances might occur 
to make the neighborhood of such Power highly injurious 
to us in many of our most important concerns. A divided 
jurisdiction over the river might beget jealousies, discon- 
tents, and dissensions, which the wisest policy on our part 
could not prevent or control. With a train of colonial 
governments established along the western bank, from the 
entrance of the river far into the interior, under the com- 
mand of military men, it would be difficult to preserve 
that state of things which would be necessary to the peace 
and tranquillity of our country. A single act of a capri- 
cious, unfriendly, or unprincipled subaltern might wound 
our best interests, violate our most unquestionable rights, 
and involve us in war. By this acquisition, which com- 
prises within our limits this great river, and all the 
streams that empty into it, from their sources to the 
ocean, the apprehension of these disasters is banished for 
ages from the United States. We adjust by it the only 
remaining known cause of variance with this powerful 
nation ; we anticipate the discontent of the great rival of 
France, who would probably have been wounded at any 
stipulation of a permanent nature which favored the lat- 
ter, and which it would have been difficult to avoid, had 
she retained the right bank. We cease to have a motive 
of urgency at least, for inclining to one Power, to avert 
the unjust pressure of another. We separate ourselves in 
a great measure from the European world and its con- 
cerns, especially its wars and intrigues. We make, in 



542 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, 

line, a great stride to real and substantial independence, 
the great effect whereof will, we trust, be felt essentially 
and extensively in all our foreign and domestic relations. 
Without exciting the apprehension of any Power, we 
take a more imposing attitude with respect to all. The 
bond of our union will be strengthened, and its move- 
ments become more harmonious, by the increased parity 
of interests which it will communicate to the several parts 
which compose it." ^ 

Despite his surprise at the outcome, Jefferson at once 
grasped the essential justice of this argument. Louisiana 
had been bought, and now the United States must make 
the best of the new situation in which she found herself. 
The treaty of cession must be duly ratified, the necessary 
appropriations for its execution must be made, steps must 
be taken to establish the authority of the United States 
at New Orleans and throughout the territory, and some 
fashion of government must be devised for the people 
thus to be taken under American control. The task was 
appalling in magnitude, particularly in view of the fact 
that it must be undertaken in the face of the most bitter 
and uncompromising opposition from the party out of 
power. From the beginning of the Mississippi trouble 
the Federalists had clamored for war with Spain, or France, 
or both — anything indeed but the peaceable settle- 
ment which Jefferson had been bent upon effecting. Even 
before Monroe had started for France, Ross, a leading Fed- 
eralist of Pennsylvania, had moved in the Senate that fifty 
thousand men be raised and $5,000,000 be appropriated 

1 Monroe and Livingston to Secretary Madison, May 13, 1803, Ameri- 
can State Papers, II. 558-559. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 543 

for an expedition to advunce at once upon New Orleans.^ 
Numerous other proposals of a similar nature were made, 
more or less officially. It was charged by the Republicans 
that the Federalists were posing as the champions of the 
Westerners merely in order to win their political support 
and so regain control of the government at the next 
election. Whatever degree of truth there may have been 
in this accusation, it cannot be denied that large numbers 
of them opposed the Administration in the spirit of sheer 
factiousness. It was their hope that Jefferson's party 
would prove unequal to the successful management of 
the government, and they rejoiced with but ineffectual 
attempts at concealment at every discomfiture of the 
" upstart *' Republicans. 

The announcement of the purchase of the Louisiana 
territory was the signal for a new outbreak of the Admin- 
istration's foes. In this project the Federalists believed 
they had found the shoal upon which the Jeifersonian 
party might be stranded. It goes without saying tliat 
they could be trusted to make the most of the opportu- 
nity. Throughout New England and the other Federalist 
states a storm of ridicule and indignation began at once 
to brew. All manner of invectives were heaped upon 
the new enterprise and upon those who were held to be 
responsible for it. Every conceivable ill result of the pur- 
chase was magnified into an inevitable calamity. Much 
was made of the fact that the administration leaders had 
only so recently declared themselves strongly against the 

1 Resolution of Februaiy 16, 1803, Annals of Congress (1802-1803), 
95. See Monroe's letter of March 7, 1803, quoted in the preceding 
chapter (p. 507). 



544 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

acquisition of territory beyond the Mississipjji. Incon- 
sistency, vacillation, duplicity, and numerous other charges 
of the sort were hurled with telling effect upon the Presi- 
dent and his secretary of state. 

If this territory were added to the United States, said 
the opposition, the East would be depopulated, the West 
would grow up into a rival nation, civil war would result, 
and eventual separation of the sections. In urging these 
considerations the Federalists could quote almost literally 
from the reports of Madison's interviews with the French- 
man Pichon. Especially was the public exhorted to con- 
sider the expense in which the United States would be 
involved by the purchase. Newspaper writers vied with 
each other in devising schemes whereby to make the sum 
to be paid for Louisiana seem enormous. Fifteen million 
dollars for a wilderness — when Maine had been sold by 
Ferdinando Gorges for X1250 and Pennsylvania had cost 
William Penn but little over £5000 ! The purchase price 
of Louisiana would make 433 tons of pure silver. It 
would load 866 wagons, which would form a procession 
(each occupying three rods) five and a third miles in 
length. It would take a man two months to load the 
wagons at the rate of sixteen a day. This sum, in the 
form of silver dollars piled in a column, would extend up- 
ward a distance of three miles. It would pay an army of 
25,000 men eight dollars a week for tAventy-five years, 
or support forever, by interest, 1800 free schools, allowing 
1500 a year per school, and accommodating 90,000 pupils. 
It would supply every man, woman, and child in the 
country with three dollars apiece. In truth, it was a 
larger amount than could be amassed by bringing together 



xir PROBLEMS OF NATlONxVL KXPANSlON 645 

every piece of specie currency in the land.^ By thus art- 
fully stating the expense in which the purchase would 
involve the United States, in terms literally true but yet 
producing a greatly exaggerated effect, the Federalists 
contrived to create the impression in many quarters that 
the Administration was about to impose an intolerable 
financial burden on the people. Numerous other argu- 
ments were brought forward, some of which will appear 
presentl}' in our consideration of the congressional debates 
on the subject. 2 

The news of the purchase reached the United States 
on the 30th of June. Within a week Jefferson had can- 
vassed the matter sufficiently to have placed his finger 
upon the main objections to the acquisition, and also to 
have devised at least a partial means of obviating them. 
It was not the dangers of migration, or the expense, or 
the prospective loss of the East's preponderance in the 
nation, that troubled the President. He was concerned 
only with what he conceived to be the constitutional 
obstacles in the way. As early as Januar}^ 1803, he had 
submitted to Secretary Gallatin the question as to whether 
the territory which iNIonroe and Livingston had been 
authorized to purchase could be acquired by the United 
States without an amendment to the Constitution. ^ His 

1 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, II. 630. 

2 The objections to the treaty are well summarized in Albert Bushnell 
Hart, Foundations of American Foreign Policy, 203. 

3 With his inquiry Jefferson transmitted to Gallatin a letter from 
Attorney-general Lincoln, who doubted the constitutionality of a "direct 
independent purchase." Lincoln to .Jefferson, -Lanuary 10, 1803, Jeffer- 
son, Mss. Cited in Adams, History of the United States, II. 78. Galla- 
tin, in his reply, dissented from the necessity of an amendment. "To 
me it would appear," he wrote, " (1) that the United States, as a nation, 

2n 



546 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

own opinion was that it was " safer not to permit the en- 
largement of the Union " except b}^ such amendment. 
Jefferson's view of the Constitution was that it conferred 
upon the national government onl}^ the right to exercise 
specifically delegated powers and such other pov/ers as 
were very manifestly demanded for the execution of those 
delegated. Under this interpretation it was at least a 
question whether foreign territory could be acquired with- 
out an amendment, for the Constitution certainly did not 
provide for such action, either expressly or by obvious 
implication. When Jefferson found that the country to 
be annexed was not a small strip at the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, but rather a vast domain of unknown extent and 
resources beyond the river boundary, the question took on 
added importance. He was now more sure than before 
that the Constitution must be amended, if not before, at 
least after, the transfer had been made. In a letter to his 
close friend. Senator Breckenridge, of Kentucky, August 
12, Jefferson declared that the treaty must be ratified and 
Congress, when convened, must take the necessary action 
to carry it into effect. " But I suj)pose," he adds, " they 
[Congress] must then appeal to the nation for an addi- 
tional article to the Constitution, approving and confirm- 
ing an act which the nation had not previously authorized. 
The Constitution has made no provision for our holding 
foreign territory, still less for our incorporating foreign 

have an inherent right to acquire territory ; (2) that whenever tliat 
acquisition is by treaty, the same constituted authorities in whom the 
treaty-making power is vested have a constitutional right to sanction the 
acquisition." Gallatin's H'or/cs, I. 112. The doctrine of national powers 
thus advanced was precisely that which had long been contended for by 
the Federalists. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 647 

nations into our Union. The executive, in seizing the 
fugitive occurrence which so much advances the good of 
their country, has done an act beyond the Constitution. 
The legislature, in casting behind them metaphysical 
subtleties and risking themselves like faithful servants, 
must ratify and pay for it, and throw themselves on their 
country for doing for them unautliorized what we know 
they would have done for themselves had they been in a 
situation to do it. It is the case of a guardian, investing 
the money of his ward in purchasing an important adja- 
cent territory, and saying to him when of age, I did this 
for your good ; I pretend to no right to bind you ; you 
may disavow me, and I must get out of the scrape as I 
can ; I thought it my duty to risk myself for you."^ It 
was entirely proper, under the circumstances, to stretch 
the power of the national government even to the extent 
of buying Louisiana ; but — so ran the argument — the 
strain must be relieved as quickly as possible by an amend- 
ment of the fundamental law. " Our peculiar security," 
wrote Jefferson to Senator Wilson Gary Nicholas, of Vir- 
ginia, "is in the possession of a written Constitution. 
Let us not make it a blank paper by construction." ^ 

Soon after the arrival of the treaty the President drew 
up an amendment whereby the province of Louisiana Avas 
"incorporated with the United States and made part 
thereof," and submitted it to the Cabinet.^ The territor}^ 

1 Jefferson to John C. Breckenridge, August 12, 1803, Jefferson's Works 
(Washington's ed.), IV. 498, and (Ford's ed.), VIII. 242-244, note. 

2 Jefferson to Wilson C. Nicholas, September 7, 180,3, Jefferson's 
Works (Washington's ed.), IV. 505, and (Ford's ed.).VIII. 247-248, note, 

3 Writinrfs of Thomas Jefferson (Ford's ed.), VIII. 241-249. Two drafts 
of an aniendnient are here given in parallel columns. 



548 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

north of the thirty-second parallel was to be held as an 
Indian reserve until a subsequent amendment should 
open it to settlement by the whites ; that south was to be 
organized under a territorial government, with the same 
rights of citizenship as were enjoyed by the inhabitants of 
the Northwest and Mississippi territories. The opinion 
generally prevailed in the Cabinet, however, as throughout 
the country, that an amendment was unnecessar}-. The 
Federalist view that the sovereignty of the nation con- 
stituted ample basis for territorial expansion became the 
popular one. The devotion of the Federalists to the 
theory of strong national powers precluded them from 
attacking the purchase at the point which Jefferson con- 
sidered most vulnerable, — the constitutional, — and threw 
them back upon arguments of expediency and national 
interests. The country at large did not share the Presi- 
dent's misgivings, and though Jefferson seems never to 
have abandoned the idea that an amendment would have 
been well in order, no serious effort to secure one on this 
subject was ever made. Late in the year Senator John 
Quincy Adams submitted a proposed amendment, but it 
was not even seconded. 

^lean while despatches from Livingston and Monroe 
gave the Administration to understand that delay in 
ratification of the treaty was perilous. Such opposition 
to the cession had developed at the French court that 
Napoleon might be constrained to annul the bargain. In 
this event the whole negotiation would have to be con- 
ducted over again, with extreme uncertainty as to the 
outcome. " I most solemnly press you," wrote Living- 
ston, " to get the ratification as soon as possible, and to do 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 549 

all that on our part remains to be done. . . . How happy, 
my dear sir, are we to have concluded a treaty which will 
forever exclude us from the politics of this stormy quarter 
of the globe. I hope that you will not let it pass totally 
through your hands." ^ 

Spurred by this advice, Jefferson proceeded to throw 
his constitutional doubts to the winds and take the 
requisite steps for making the purchase irrevocable. 
Congress was called to meet in special session October 17. 
Both houses were convened, because not merely was the 
treaty to be ratified, but certain general legislation would 
be necessary to provide for the execution of its terms. 
In his message, October 17, Jefferson said not a word 
concerning the constitutional aspects of the purchase. 
" Congress witnessed at their late session," he wrote, " the 
extraordinary agitation produced in the public mind by 
the suspension of our right of deposit at the port of New 
Orleans, no assignment of another place having been made 
according to treaty. They were sensible that the con- 
tinuance of that privation would be more injurious to our 
nation than any consequences which could flow from any 
mode of redress, but reposing just confidence in the good 
faith of the government whose officer had committed the 
wrong, friendly and reasonable representations were 
resorted to, and the right of deposit was restored. 
Previous, however, to this period we had not been unaware 
of the danger to which our peace would be perpetually 
exposed whilst so important a key to the commerce of 
the western country remained under foreign power. . . . 

1 Livingston to Madison, June 3, 1803, American State Papers, II. 
563. 



550 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIITI chap. 

Propositions had therefore been authorized for obtaining 
on fair conditions the sovereignty of New Orleans and of 
other possessions in that quarter interesting to our quiet to 
such extent as Avas deemed practicable, and the provisional 
appropriation of $2,000,000 to be applied and accounted 
for by the President of the United States, intended as part 
of the price, was considered as conveying the sanction of 
Congress to the acquisition proposed. The enlightened 
government of France saw with jnst discernment the im- 
portance to both nations of such liberal arrangements as 
might best and permanently promote the peace, friendship, 
and interests of both, and the property and sovereignty of 
all Louisiana which had been restored to them have on 
certain conditions been transferred to the United States 
by instruments bearing date the 30th of April last. When 
those shall have received the constitutional sanction of the 
Senate, they will without delay be communicated to the 
Representatives also for the exercise of their functions as 
to these conditions which are within the powers vested by 
the Constitution in Congress."^ Already Jefferson liad 
written to Breckenridge, " The less we say about con- 
stitutional difficulties respecting Louisiana, the better. 
. . . What is necessary for surmounting them must 
be done sub silentio.'^'^ In parting with his private con- 
victions on this matter Jefferson well understood that 
the principle of strict construction, which, as he declared, 
was the very "breath of his political life," was receiving 
a severe blow, and that in later times, if the nation 

1 Richardson, Messar/es and Paper.i of the Presidents, I. 358. 

2 Jefferson to John C. Breckenridge, August 18, 1803, Writings of 
Jefferson (Ford's ed.), VIH. 245, note. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 551 

sliould come to dominate despotically over the states, he 
might well be reprobated by succeeding generations of 
Virginians as the first high traitor to their interests. 
Nevertheless, the securing and organizing of the Louisiana 
Purchase now appeared incomparably the greatest concern 
of the nation, and to it the President addressed himself 
with a fervor which would have been impossible in a less 
broad-minded patriot. His final word on the constitu- 
tional question, written more than five weeks before the 
assembling of Congress, was that while he believed an 
amendment would serve as a wholesome safeguard against 
broad construction, yet if " our friends shall think dif- 
ferently, certainly I shall acquiesce with satisfaction, con- 
fiding that the good sense of our country will correct the 
evil of construction when it shall produce ill effects."^ 

In his message the President carefully rehearsed the 
steps which had been taken to relieve the western traders 
and which had culminated in the unexpected purchase 
treaty. He commended the liberality of the French 
government and expressed the hope that the United 
States would not be dilatory in giving effect to the 
arrangement. The advantages to be derived from it 
were set forth with true discernment. " Whilst the 
property and the sovereignty of the Mississippi and its 
waters secure an independent outlet for the produce of 
the western states, and an uncontrolled navigation through 
their whole course, free from collision with otlier powers 
and the dangers to our peace from that source, the fertility 
of the country, its climate and extent, promise, in due 

1 Jefferson to Wilson Gary Nicholas, September 7, 1803, Jefferson's 
Works (Washington's ed.), IV. 505. 



bo2 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

season, important aids to our treasury, an ample provi- 
sion for our posterity, and a wide spread for the blessings 
of freedom and equal laws.''^ The wise utilization of 
this splendid acquisition would now fall to the legisla- 
tive branch. " With the wisdom of Congress it will rest 
to take those ulterior measures which may be necessary 
for the immediate occupation and temporary government 
of the country ; for rendering the change of government 
a blessing to our newly adopted brethren ; for securing 
to them the rights of conscience and of property ; for 
confirming to the Indian inhabitants their occupancy and 
self-government, establishing friendly and commercial re- 
lations with them ; and for ascertaining the geography 
of the country acquired." 

In this connection it is interesting to note the disposition 
of the Louisiana territory which Jefferson had outlined 
some months before in a letter to Horatio Gates. '' With 
respect to the territory acquired," he wrote, " I do not 
think it will be a separate government as you imagine. I 
presume the island of N. Orleans and the settled country 
on the opposite bank, will be annexed to the Mississippi 
territory. We shall certainly endeavor to introduce the 
American laws there & that cannot be done but by 
amalgamating the people with such a body of Americans 
as may take the lead in legislation & government. Of 
course they will be under the Governor of ^lississippi. 
The rest of the territory will probably be locked up from 
American settlement, and under the self-government of the 
native occupants." '^ It was evidently some such general 

^ Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents. I. 358. 

2 Jefferson to Horatio Gates, July 11, 1803, Writings of Jefferson 



XII rUOBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 553 

policy as this that the President expected the legislative 
department of the government forthwith to inaugurate. 

Within four days after the convening of Congress the 
treaty had been ratified by the Senate by a vote of 24 to 7, 
and publicly proclaimed. There was little time to spare, 
for by the terms of the instrument ratification was to be 
exchanged within six months after the signing by the 
plenipotentiaries. The six months would expire Octo- 
ber 30. The P'ederalists opposed, but with no hope of 
success. With unabated ardor they then entered upon a 
vigorous campaign against the legislation necessary for 
the execution of the treaty. First of all there was the 
purchase money — $11,250,000, exclusive of the claims — 
to be provided for. Then the treaty contained an article 
(III.) to the effect that "the inhabitants of the ceded 
territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United 
States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the 
principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment 
of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens 
of the United States ; and, in the meantime, they shall be 
maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their 
liberty, property, and the religion which they profess." 
This meant that provision must be made at once for the 
maintenance of law and order and security of individual 
rights after the territory in question should have come 
under American control. 

The debates on these subjects were brief,^ but, as Mr. 
Henry Adams has declared, none ever took place in the 

(Ford's ed.), VIII. 250-251. See a letter advancing similar ideas, writ- 
ten to John Dickinson, August 0, ibid.. 202-2(!3. 

1 In the House, October 25-27 ; in the Senate, November 2-3. 



554 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Capitol which better deserved recollection.^ They began 
with the resolution introduced in the House October 24 
by Gaylord Griswold, of New York, calling upon the 
President to lay before Congress a copy of the treaty of 
San Ildefonso, together with a copy of the deed of cession 
from Spain to France under that treaty, and all other 
papers which would go to show how well founded had 
been the French title to Louisiana.^ It was generally 
understood that the Spanish government was enraged 
at the conduct of Napoleon in violating the pledge of 
non-alienation given through Gouvion St.-Cyr, and that 
Godoy and his associates were proclaiming loudly that, 
France having failed to keep her part of the contract, in 
respect to the Parmese acquisition, as well as the pledge 
of non-alienation, Louisiana still belonged of right to 
Spain. The Spanish minister, Yrujo, was plying Madi- 
son with repeated protests against the acceptance of the 
territory by the United States, affirming that it was not 
Napoleon's to sell.^ The fact that the Spaniards were still 
in control at New Orleans was construed to lend con- 
siderable color to this representation. At any rate, it 
supplied the Federalist opposition with a useful weapon. 
What folly, they contended, to pay $15,000,000 for terri- 
tory which the United States would some day awake to 
find still belonging to an alien power ! Spain declared 
Louisiana still to be hers, and Spain ought to know. The 

1 Adams, History of the United States, II. 96. For the debates, 
see Annals of Congress (1803-1804), (House, 386-515 passim; Senate, 
31-74). 

2 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 386. 

3 Yrujo to Madison, Sept. 4, Sept. 27, Oct. 12, 1803, American State 
Papers, II. 669, 570. 



xii PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 555 

purchase was but a shrewd trick on the part of Napoleon 
whereby to wheedle the United States out of money 
enough to maintain his European wars. 

By the close vote of 59 to 57 the Republicans defeated 
Griswold's resolution. ^ The next day the House went 
into Committee of the Whole to consider measures for 
carrying the treaty into effect. ^ Following the precedent 
of the Ja}' treaty debate in 1796, the House now pro- 
ceeded to discuss the general aspects of the treaty and 
pass judgment upon its merits and defects as freely as 
if it were not alread}' the supreme law of the land beyond 
their legitimate power to annul. Mr. Griswold again led 
the assault upon the measure — this time directing his 
eloquence against the article providing for the incor- 
poration of the ceded territory into the United States. 
His arguments upon this point expressed the views of 
numerous opponents of the purchase. It was not pos- 
sible under the Constitution, he said, for the President 
and Senate to alter the character of the Union by 
contracting for the admission of new states into it. 
The Union was a " copartnership," and the national 
government, as the mere agent of the members, could 
not admit a new partner. That could be done only by 
the express sanction of each state. " The incorpora- 
tion of a foreign nation into the Union, so far from 
tending to preserve the Union, is direct inroad upon it; 
it destroys the perfect union contemplated l)etween tlie 
original parties, by interposing an alien and a stranger 
to share the powers of government with them." In ob- 
ligating the nation to so incorporate Louisiana, declared 

1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 419. » Ihid, 432. 



556 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Griswold, the Administration had greatly exceeded its 
powers, and the people of the United States could not 
be regarded as bound by the treaty to redeem the prom- 
ise. Objection was made also to the seventh article, 
providing in substance that the ships of France and 
Spain, under prescribed conditions and for a period of 
twelve years, should be admitted to the ports of the 
ceded territory on the same terms, in respect to duties, 
as American ships. Under laws then existing the ships 
of France and Spain were liable to an extra tonnage duty, 
and their cargoes to a duty of ten per cent advance, when 
arriving in the Atlantic ports. The granting of exemp- 
tion from these charges in the ceded territory was urged to 
be a violation of the constitutional provision that " all 
duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout 
the United States ; '* ^ also that " no preference shall be 
given, by any regulation of commerce, or revenue, to the 
ports of one state over those of another." ^ Other speakers 
followed, for the most part but paraphrasing the arguments 
of Griswold. It was generally conceded by the oppo- 
sition that the United States could acquire territory, but 
only to hold as a perpetual colony or dependency, not to be 
brought into the Union as a state. As Roger Griswold, of 
Connecticut, put it, "a new territory and new subjects 
may undoubtedly be obtained by conquest and by pur- 
chase ; but neither the conquest nor the purchase can in- 
corporate them into the Union. They must remain in the 
condition of colonies, and be governed accordingly." ^ 

1 Art. I. Sect. 8. Annals of Congress (1802-1803), 434. 

2 Art. I. Sect. 9. 

8 Annals of Congress (180:5-1804), 460-462. 



XII TKOBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 567 

The counter arguments of the Republicans were vari- 
ous, and on the whole conclusive. Beginning with the 
sovereign power of the nation to acquire territory, which 
the Federalists could not deny, the supporters of the 
purchase advanced to the view tliat the power must 
carry with it the right to stipulate whatever terms 
seemed necessary — even the admission of new states or 
the establishing of preferential import duties. Thomas 
Randolph, of Virginia, clearly stated the view of his party 
when he declared that "the alleged preference given to 
New Orleans over the other parts of the Union did not 
present a constitutional difficulty, because it was to be 
considered as the price paid for the ceded territory ; that 
by the treaty no preference was given to one state over 
another, because Louisiana was a territory and not a 
state." ^ Joseph H. Nicholson, of ^Maryland, put it thus : 
" Louisiana is a territory purchased by the United States 
in their confederate capacity, and may be disposed of by 
them at pleasure. It is in the nature of a colony whose 
commerce may be regulated without any reference to the 
Constitution." After a day's earnest discussion a vote 
was taken on the question of making provision for 
carrying into effect the treaty of purchase. The result 
sliowed 90 in favor and 25 opposed. ^ On the 29th a bill 
enabling the President to take possession of Louisiana 
and establish such temporary government in the territory 
as he thought most adequate, was passed by a vote of 85 
to 7.^ The nature of the act is apparent from its title : 
"■ An act authorizing the creation of a stock to the amount 

1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 438. 2 Ibid., 488. 

3 Ibid. , 548, and Appendix, 1245. 



558 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of -111,250,000, for the purpose of carrying into effect the 
convention of the thirtieth of April, 1803, between the 
United States of America and the French Republic, and 
making provision for the payment of the same." With 
this comprehensive piece of legislation the House com- 
pleted its labors, for the time being, on the Louisiana 
question. 

The debate in the Senate may be said to have begun 
November 2, although on the 26th of October this 
branch, by a vote of 26 to 6, had passed a bill to enable 
the President to take possession of Louisiana. ^ When 
the debate opened, the matter under immediate con- 
sideration was the bill authorizing the appropriation 
for the purchase, which had been passed by the House 
four days before. The arguments in the Senate fol- 
lowed largely the same course as in the lower house, 
except that much more extreme views were expressed 
on both sides. James White, of Delaware, for example, 
declared himself in favor of the acquisition of New 
Orleans and such other posts on the Mississippi as might 
be necessary to insure the complete and uninterrupted 
navigation of that river. " But as to Louisiana," he 
declared, "this new, immense, unbounded world, if it 
should ever be incorporated into this Union, which I 
have no idea can be done but by altering the Constitu- 
tion, I believe it will be the greatest curse that could at 
present befall us." The reasons for this belief Mr. 
White set forth as follows : " You had as well pretend 
to prohibit the fish from swimming in the sea, as to 
prevent the populating of that country [Louisiana, i)ar- 
1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 26. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 559 

ticularly the northern portion] after its sovereignty sliall 
become ours. To every man acquainted with the adven- 
turous, roving, and enterprising temper of our people, 
and M'ith the manner in which our western country has 
been settled, such an idea must be chimerical. The in- 
ducements will be so strong that it will be impossible to 
restrain our citizens from crossing the river. Louisiana 
must and will become settled, if we hold it, and with the 
very population that would otherwise occupy part of our 
present territory. Thus our citizens will be removed to 
the immense distance of two or three thousand miles from 
the capital of the Union, where they will scarcely ever 
feel the rays of the general government ; their affections 
will become alienated ; they will gradually begin to view 
us as strangers ; they will form other commercial connec- 
tions, and our interests will become distinct. These, 
with other causes that human wisdom may not now fore- 
see, will in time effect a separation, and I fear our bounds 
will be fixed nearer to our houses than the waters of the 
:\Iississippi. We have already territory enough, and 
when I contemplate the evils that may arise to these 
States from this intended incorporation of Louisiana into 
the Union, I would rather see it given to France, to 
Spain, or to any other nation of the earth, upon the mere 
condition that no citizen of the United States should ever 
settle within its limits, than to see the territory sold for 
$100,000,000, and we retain the sovereignty. . . . And 
I do say, under the circumstances, even supposing that 
this extent of territory was a desirable acquisition, 
815,000,000 was a most enormous sum to give."i 
1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 34. 



560 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Pickering, of Massachusetts, expressed the opinion that 
the treaty was unconstitutional because it stipulated 
pledges which there was no power to make good. He 
referred particularly to the incorporation of the Louisi- 
anians provided for in the third article. This he believed 
could be legitimately accomplished only by securing the 
express consent of every state in the Union — a thing 
which was manifestly out of the question. ^ Tracy, of 
Connecticut, concluded an able presentation of his side 
of the case in the following language : " I have no doubt 
but we can obtain territory either by conquest or com- 
pact, and hold it, even all Louisiana, and a thousand times 
more, if you please, without violating the Constitution. 
We can hold territory ; but to admit the inhabitants into 
the Union to make citizens of them and states, by treaty, 
we cannot constitutionally do ; and no subsequent act of 
legislation, or even ordinary amendment to our Constitu- 
tion, can legalize such measures. If done at all, they must 
be done by universal consent of all the states or partners 
of our political association ; and this universal consent I 
am positive can never be obtained to such a pernicious 
measure as the admission of Louisiana, of a world — and 
such a world — into our Union. This would be absorb- 
ing the northern states, and rendering them as insignifi- 
cant in the Union as they ought to be if, by their own 
consent, the new measure should be adopted. . . . The 
principle of admission, in the case of Louisiana, is the 
same as if it contained ten millions of inhabitants ; and 
the principles of these peoples are probably as hostile 
to our government, in its true construction, as they can 
1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 44. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL KXl'AXSloX 501 

be, and the relative strength which this admission gives 
to the southern and western interest is contradictory to 
the principles of our original Union as any can be, how- 
ever strongly stated." ^ 

In his frank avowal of fear that the states to be carved 
out of the purchase, together with those already forming 
on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, would some day 
dominate the nation and draw the balance of power from 
the East to the West, Senator Tracy was at the same time 
betraying the secret of much of the opposition to the 
purchase, and indulging in a prophecy which subsequent 
generations have seen abundantly fulfilled. Even as early 
as the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, 
no little jealousy on part of the eastern — especially the 
New England — states as against the West was begin- 
ning to display itself. By 1803 this feeling had grown 
sufficiently to impel of itself a general anti-expansion 
policy in some quarters of the seaboard. Eight years 
later, by the time the admission of Louisiana as a state 
was under contemplation, it had developed in New Eng- 
land into an almost uncontrolled passion, inducing open 
threats of secession in event of the investment of any 
more western territory with the prerogatives of state- 
hood. ^ ,As Senator White had so forcefully declared, 

1 Aimals of Congress (1803-1804), 58. 

2 In his speech upon the question of admitting Louisiana, January 14, 
1811, Josiah Quincy, a leading member of Congress from Massachusetts, 
used the following remarkable language: "I address you, Mr. Speaker, 
with an anxiety and distress of mind with me wholly unprecedented. To 
me it appears that this measure would justify a revolution in this country. 
I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill 
passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually di.ssolved ; that the states 
which compose it are free from their moral obligations ; and that, as it 

2o 



562 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Louisiana, once brought under the American flag, was 
certain to fill rapidly with emigrants from the United 
States. Unless a man believed, as White did, that this 
newly populated land would establish its independence 
from the United States, he could not well close his eyes 
to the enormous possibilities of an industrial and political 
overbalancing of the East, In the troubles regarding 
the navigation of the Mississippi, the interests of New 
England and the West had been diametrically opposed, 
and the two sections, to state it mildly, had not been 
increased in their respect for each other. The antipathy 
thus forced upon the attention of the public was taken by 
not a few New Englanders, as well as many people in other 
parts of the country, to forecast the bitter antagonism 
which westward expansion must inevitably produce. 

Probably the ablest speech made in the Senate in sup- 
port of the purchase was that of John C. Breckenridge, 
of Kentucky, in answer to* the opposition's arguments in 
general, and those of Senator Tracy in particular,^ He 
began by characterizing the purchase, not only as to the 
manner of its negotiation, but also as to the result achieved, 
as one of the most splendid transactions which the annals 
of any nation could exhibit. " To acquire an empire of 
perhaps half the extent of the one now possessed,^ from, 
the most powerful and warlike nation on earth, without 

will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely 
for a separation — amicably if they can, violently if they must." Annals 
of Congress, 11th Cong., third sess., 525. 

1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 58-05. 

2 The employment of this phrase by Breckenridge shows how little 
even the friends of the purchase policy understood the extent and value of 
the lands acquired from France. As a matter of fact, the Louisiana terri- 



li 



xii PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 563 

bloodshed, without the oppressing of a single individual, 
without in the least embarrassing the ordinary operations 
of your finances, and all this through the peaceful forms 
of negotiation, and in despite, too, of the o^jposition of a 
considerable portion of the community, is an achievement 
of which the archives of the predecessors, at least, of those 
now in oihce, cannot furnish a parallel." 

In answering the arguments of Senators White, Picker- 
ing, and others, to the effect that the acquisition would 
prove destructive of the Union, Mr. Breckenridge spoke 
with genuine eloquence. " This is an old, hackneyed 
doctrine — that a republic ought not to be too extensive. 
But the gentleman [Senator Pickering] has assumed two 
facts, and then reasoned from them : first, that the extent 
is too great ; and secondly, that the country will soon be 
populated. I would ask, sir, what is his standard extent 
for a republic? How does he come at that standard? 
Our boundary is already extensive. Would his standard 
extent be violated by including the island of Orleans and 
the Floridas ? I presume not, as all parties seem to think 
their acquisition, in part or in whole, essential. Why not, 
then, acquire territory on the west, as well as on the east, 
side of the Mississippi ? Is the goddess of liberty restrained 
by watercourses ? Is she governed by geographical limits ? 

tory lacked but 34,025 square miles of being as large as the United States, 
with all her territories, prior to tlie purchase. It should be noted, how- 
ever, that Jefferson appreciated the Louisiana acquisition at its full worth. 
In a letter to Horatio Gates, July 11, 1803, he wrote: "The territory 
acquired, as it includes all the waters of the Missouri & Mississippi, has 
more than doubled the area of the U. S., and the new part is not inferior 
to the old in soil, climate, productions, & important communications." 
Writings of Jtffasnn (Ford's cd.), VIII. 249. 



564 THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Is her dominion on this continent confined to the east side 
of the Mississippi ? So far from believing in the doctrine 
that a republic ought to be confined within narrow limits, 
I believe, on the contrary, that the more extensive its 
dominions, the more safe and more durable it will be. 
In proportion to the number of hands you intrust the 
precious blessings of a free government to, in the same 
proportion do you multiply the chances for their preser- 
vation. I entertain, therefore, no fears for the Confeder- 
acy, on account of its extent." ^ 

It may well be that this view was rather more optimistic 
than conditions a hundred years ago seemed to warrant. 
Without the railroad, telegraph, and steamship, it is small 
wonder that men doubted the ability of any government 
to maintain efficiency throughout such an extent as the 
purchase now gave the United States. Geographical 
limitations upon government were then very real items 
to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, it must be admitted 
that Senator Breckenridge in his speech entered a most 
forceful protest on behalf of the western people against 
the narrowness and provincialism still so dominant be- 
tween the Alleghanies and the seaboard. The strongest 
point that he made was that while, as Senators White and 
Tracy had said, the people of the United States, in event 
of the annexation of Louisiana, would migrate thither in 
large numbers, they would inevitably do so anyway, even 
if Spain or France continued in control. The Louisiana 
population was certain to be drawn mainly from the 
United States. Neither the French nor the Spanish 
showed disposition to migrate to America in any consider- 
1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 60. 



■ 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 505 

able numbers, while the restless westward advance of the 
English-speaking peoples from the Alleghanies to the 
Mississippi betokened that the river would not long con- 
tinue to mark the limits of their enterprise. The question 
then, said Breckenridge, was simply this : " Is the Con- 
federacy more in danger from Louisiana, when colonized 
by American people under American jurisdiction, than 
when populated by Americans under the control of some 
foreign, powerful, and rival nation ? " To his mind there 
could be but one answer. This aspect of the matter was 
of great weight in influencing the senators to acquiesce in 
the terms of the treaty. Even John Quincy Adams, who 
had voted against the bill enabling the President to take 
possession of Louisiana, declared in speaking of these 
terms : "I trust they will be so performed [i.e. "punctu- 
ally and faithfully "], and will cheerfull}^ lend my hand to 
every act necessary for the purpose. For I consider the 
object as of the highest advantage to us ; and the gentle- 
man from Kentucky himself [Breckenridge], who has dis- 
played with so much eloquence the immense importance 
to the Union of the possession of the ceded territory, can- 
not carry his ideas further on that subject than I do."^ 
The speedy conversion of Adams may have been due not 
more to Breckenridge's eloquence than to the activity of 
Pickering in opposing the treaty ; for the relations of 
the two Massachusetts senators were notoriously hostile. 
Adams continued to believe in the efficacy of a consti- 
tutional amendment, however, and while approving the 
incorporation of Louisiana found much fault with the 
means adopted to that end. 

1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 08. 



566 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Support of the Louisiana project involved an almost 
complete abandonment of the time-honored doctrines of 
the Republicans. The tenets of the Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia Resolutions were being violated by the Adminis- 
tration at every turn.^ The implied powers under the 
Constitution were being exploited as they had never been 
during the Washington and Adams administrations. 
Only five years before Breckenridge so ardentl}' cham- 
pioned the Louisiana transaction in the Senate he had led 
the legislature of Kentucky in declaring itself determined 
"tamely to submit to undelegated, and consequently un- 
limited, powers in no man or body of men on earth ; " and 
in affirming that submission to the exercise of such powers 
" would be to surrender the form of government we have 
chosen, and to live under one deriving its powers from its 
own will, and not from our authority." "Nothing could 
be more interesting," says Mr. Henry Adams, "than to 
see the discomfort with which the champions of state 
rights tossed themselves from one horn to the other of the 
Federalist dilemma. The Federalists cared little on which 
horn their opponents might choose to impale themselves, 
for both were equally fatal. Either Louisiana must be 
admitted as a state, or must be held as a territory. In 
the first case the old Union was at an end ; in the second 



1 The Kentucky Resolutions, of November 10, 1798, are given in N. S. 
Shaler, Kentucky, 409-416 ; those of November 22, in Elliot, Debates 
(ed. 1836), IV. 570-572. The text of the Virginia Resolutions of De- 
cember 24, 1798, is in Madison's Writings (ed. 1865), IV. 506-507. All of 
these are reprinted inMacDonald, Select Documents, 148-160. See Her- 
mann Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the United States, I. Ch. IV. ; 
E. D. Warfield, The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 ; and Alexander 
Johnston, in Lalor''s Cyclopcedia of United States History, II. 672-677. 



xn PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 007 

case the national government was an empire, with inher- 
ent sovereignty derived from the war and treaty-making 
poAvers — in either case the Virginia theories were ex- 
ploded." 1 

On the second day of the debate, November 3, the bill 
appropriating the purchase money was passed by a vote 
of 26 to 5. The senators voting in the negative were 
Pickering, of Massachusetts, Hillhouse and Tracy, of Con- 
necticut, and Wells and White, of Delaware. ^ 

Another question which demanded an early settlement 
was the relation which the newly acquired territory 
should bear to the United States. Did Louisiana now 
belong to the central government at Washington, or to 
the states ? And, in either case, how should the territory 
be governed ? By a curious reversal of positions the 
Federalists maintained that while the general government 
might, by reason of its inherent sovereignty, rule the 
territory as England or France ruled dependencies, it 
could not be brought into the Union as a state without 
the consent of the states already existing ; and the lie- 
publicans held that Louisiana now became merely a part 
of the general territory mentioned in the Constitution, 
and might be admitted as a state, or as several states, 
solely at the discretion of Congress. One thing was cer- 
tain, — the annexation foreboded a cliange in the charac- 
ter of the old Union. Whether the imperial policy of the 
Federalists, or the assimilative plan of the Republicans, 
was followed, the nation could not go on the same. The 
one meant a radical transformation in the underlying re- 

1 Adams, History of the United States, II. 112. 

2 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 73. 



568 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

publican theory of the government ; the other meant, at 
the very least, an early overbalancing of the East by the 
West in the councils of the nation. 

In his message, October 17, Jefferson had called upon 
Congress to take measures " necessary for the immediate 
occupation and temporary government " of the newly 
acquired country. In a special message, October 21, he 
again besought the legislative branch to make "such 
temporary provisions as the case may require." ^ This 
request was followed by the appointment of a select com- 
mittee on the subject in the House, with John Randolph 
as chairman. The bill which the committee soon reported 
was understood to have emanated from the President. ^ 
It provided in substance that for the time being there 
should be no attempt to change the existing institutions 
of Louisiana, and that until Congress could arrange defi- 
nitely for a new government the President should adminis- 
ter the affairs of the territory without check or hindrance. 
This proposition was bitterly attacked by the Federalists, 
on the ground that it placed entirely too much power in 
the hands of the President, and that the continuance of 
the Spanish regime under the American flag amounted 
to nothing less than " tearing the Constitution to tatters." 
The Republican claim, however, that the Constitution 
was made for the states, not the territories, while admit- 
tedly capable of producing governmental abuses, came to 
be generally accepted. It was simply an assertion of the 
now well-established principle that Congress has power in 

1 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I. 363. 

2 The text of the measure is in the Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 
Appendix, 1245. 



I 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 5(39 

the territories which it cannot exercise in the states, and 
that the limitations of power found in the Constitution are 
applicable only to the states. ^ By a strictly party vote 
the. committee's bill was passed in the House, as likewise 
in the Senate.^ It became law October 31. 

This measure was, of course, but temporary. A month 
after its adoption Senator Breckenridge moved for a com- 
mittee to draw up a definite and permanent scheme for the 
territorial government of Louisiana.^ The members ap- 
pointed were Breckenridge himself, Jackson and Baldwin, 
of Georgia, and John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts.* 
December 30 they reported a bill which seems to have 
been drawn up by Secretary Madison in collaboration 
with the President.^ The most cursory examination of 
the measure revealed the theory upon which it had been 
constructed. This was that the same sovereign power 
which had been construed as enabling the national govern- 
ment to acquire the territory, enabled it also to govern the 
inhabitants of the territory absolutely without restriction. 
Louisiana was considered clearly outside the pale of the 
Constitution, in an even more dependent relation than 
such territories as Indiana and Mississippi. The bill began 
by dividing the ceded area into two parts on the line of 
the thirty-third parallel — the boundary between the pres- 
ent states of Arkansas and Louisiana. Henceforth the 
northern portion alone was to bear the name " Louisiana " 

1 Cf. Tliomas II. Benton, Examination of the Decision of the Supreme 
Court in the Case of Drexl Scott, 55. 

2 The vote in the House was 90 yeas, 25 nays ; in the Senate, 26 yeas, 
5 nays. 

3 Motion of November 28th. Annals of Congress (180:1-1804), lOG. 

4 Ibid., 211. ^ Ilml, 223 et seq. 



570 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

and was to be subject to the territorial government of 
Indiana. It contained as yet but few whites, and its 
affairs were mainly such as related to the Indians. The 
southern portion was to bear the name of the " Territory 
of Orleans." The government devised for this region ex- 
ceeded in despotism anything the United States had yet 
known, falling but little short in this respect of the systems 
recently in vogue under the French and Spanish regimes. 
There was absolutely no provision for popular govern- 
ment in the territory. The governor and secretary were to 
be appointed by the President, the former for a term of 
three years, the latter for a term of four. The legisla- 
tive council of thirteen members was to be appointed 
annually by the President without even consulting the 
Senate. The governor was to have unrestricted power of 
convening and proroguing this council. The judicial 
officers, also appointed by the President, were to hold 
their positions for four years only, rather than during 
good behavior. The right to a jury trial was limited to 
cases involving the sum of i20 or more, and to capital 
cases in criminal prosecutions. The slave trade was 
restricted by the provision that no slave should be imported 
from abroad, no slave should be brought into the terri- 
tory from the Union who had been imported from abroad 
since May 1, 1798, and no slave should be carried into the 
territory under any circumstances except by an American 
citizen "removing into said territory for actual settle- 
ment, and being, at the time of such removal, bona fide 
owner of such slave." ^ 

1 The text of the act as finally approved by the President, March 26, 
1804, is in the Annals of Congress (1803-1804), Appendix, 1293-1300. 



XII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 671 

Unfortunately the Senate debates on this bill were not 
recorded. We only know that after numerous unsuccess- 
ful attempts on the part of John Quincy Adams and others 
to check the exercise of arbitrary power the measure was 
passed, February 18, 1804, after six weeks' debate, by a 
vote of 20 to 5.^ In the House opinion was widely di- 
vergent. On the one hand, there were those who con- 
tended, with George W. Campbell, of Tennessee, that the 
bill " really establishes a complete despotism ; it does not 
evince a single trait of liberty ; it does not confer one 
single right to which they [the inhabitants] are entitled 
under the treaty ; it does not extend to them the benefits 
of the federal Constitution, or declare when, hereafter, 
they shall receive them."^ On the other hand, tliere 
were those who joined in the confession of Dr. Eustis, of 
Boston : " I am one of those who believe that the prin- 
ciples of civil liberty cannot suddenly be engrafted on a 
people accustomed to a regimen of a directly opposite 
hue. The approach of such a people to liberty must 
be gradual. I believe them [the inhabitants] at present 
totally unqualified to exercise it. . . . I consider them 
as standing in nearly the same relation to us as if they 
were a conquered country." ^ The House as a whole 
was not ready to accept such centralization of authority 



It appears also in English, and in French in the anonymous Hecueil dans 
leqiiel sont contenus la Constitution des Etats-Unis avec ses amendcments, 
le traite par leqiiel la Louisiane a ete cede aux Etats-Unis, etc. [New Or- 
leans, 1800], 74-102. This compilation is bound in a volume with other 
documents relating to early Louisiana history under the title, Louisiane, 
1804 a 1807. 

1 Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 256. 

2 76iU, 1063. ' »76?U,1058. 



672 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

in the hands of the President as the Breckenridge bill 
proposed. By a vote of 74 to 23 it struck out the 
section which vested legislative power in the council to 
be appointed by the President. An amendment was 
substituted, providing for an elective territorial legisla- 
ture after the first year. The restriction on the right 
of jury trial was rejected, and the entire act was limited 
to two years. In this altered form it passed the House 
March 17, though not a few Republicans joined with 
the Federalists to the end in opposing it.^ 

The Senate refused absolutely to concur in any of the 
House amendments, except as to the duration of the act, 
and this was reduced to a single year. Inasmuch as in so 
short a time not even the alarmists could hope for the inau- 
guration of a better system than the one proposed, the 
House accepted the Senate's compromise and passed the 
bill, March 23, in its original form except as to the time 
limit. The vote was rather close — 51 to 45.2 The first 
stage of Louisiana legislation was complete.^ By the 

1 The vote was 66 to 21. Annals of Congress (1803-1804), 1199. 

^ Ibid., 1229. 

3 Most of the works referred to in the preceding cliapter (especially 
p. 531), contain more or less elaborate accounts of the Louisiana debate 
and early Louisiana legislation. By far the best treatment of the subject 
is Adams, Histot^ of the United States, II. Chs. IV.- VI. The acquisi- 
tions resulting from the Spanish-American war have occasioned, within 
recent times, a vast amount of discussion of the problems of administra- 
tion of dependent territory under the law and practice of the United 
States. A few books and essays in this field, which not infrequently 
recur to the precedents of the Louisiana Purchase, may be cited as of 
general interest: A. T. Mahan, Lessons of the War with Spain ; White- 
law Reid, Problems of Expansion ; Max Farrand, Legislation of Congress 
for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States; 
Albert Bushnell Hart, Foundations of American Foreign Policy (espe- 



XII FROBLEMS OF NATIONAL EXPANSION 573 

Breckenridge Act, says Mr. Adams, " Louisiana received 
a government in which its people, wlio had been solemnly 
promised all the rights of American citizens, were set 
apart, not as citizens, but as subjects lower in the political 
scale than the meanest tribes of Indians, whose right to 
self-government was never questioned." ^ 

It is certainly true that the measures adopted for the 
government of the Louisiana territory marked no slight 
departure from the nation's recognized principles and 
policies. One has only to compare the Breckenridge Act 
with the ordinance reported to the Congress of the Con- 
federation by Jefferson, in 1784, for the government of the 
territory recently ceded by the individual states, or with 
the even more noteworthy Northwest Ordinance of 1787, 
to be struck with the illiberality of the system now imposed 
upon Louisiana. Yet it should be borne in mind that 
the circumstances of the Louisiana settlement were wholly 

cially Chs. V. and VI.) ; Simeon E. Baldwin, " Historic Policy of the United 
States," in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association 
for 1893, 369-390 ; J. W. Burgess, "Government of Distant Territory,"' 
and "The Constitution and Newly Acquired Territory," in the Political 
Science Quarterly, XIV. 1-18, and XV. 381-398 ; Benjamin Harrison, 
"The Status of Annexed Territory," in the North American Bevieic, 
CLXXII. 1-22 ; E. W. Huffcut, "Constitutional Aspects of the Govern- 
ment of Dependencies," in the Annals of the American Academy of Politi- 
cal and Social Science, XIII., Supplement 19-45; Theodore S. Woolsey, 
"The Government of Dependencies," ibid., XIII., Sup. 3-18; Carl 
Becker, "Law and Practice of the United States in the Acquisition and 
Government of Dependent Territory," ibid., XVI., Sup. 404-420; A. 
Lawrence Lowell, "The Government of Dependencies," ibid., XIII., 
Sup. 46-59, "The Colonial Expansion of the United States," in the 
Atlantic Monthly, LXXXIIL 145-155, and "The Status of our New 
Possessions," in the Harvard Law lieview, November, 1899 ; and Harry 
P. Judson, "The Constitution and the Territories," in the Review of 
Reviews, XXI. 451-456. i Adams. History of the United States, II. 125. 



574 THE OPENING OE THE MISSISSIPPI chap, xh 

unique. The territories east of the Mississippi were peo- 
pled with the frontiersmen who had gone out but recently 
from the seaboard states, and who, as men largely of 
Saxon blood and speech, had always been accustomed to 
more or less participation in the government to which 
they owed allegiance. On the other hand, the Louisi- 
anians presented a variety of French, Spanish, and Creole 
elements — all equally devoid of experience in self-gov- 
ernment. Under both the earlier French regime and the 
later Spanish possession. New Orleans had been the seat 
of an autocracy as complete within its sphere of opera- 
tion as that at Paris or ]\Iadrid. That the inhabitants of 
the ceded territory were not capable of passing instantly 
out of the shadow of absolutism into efficient admin- 
istration of their own political affairs will hardly be dis- 
puteel by any one acquainted with conditions prevailing 
in the province. There may have been, on the part of 
the Jefferson administration, a greater departure from the 
general securities of the Constitution than was entirely 
necessary, but that there was every warrant for govern- 
ing the territory independently of that instrument has 
been subsequently affirmed, not onh' by the authority of 
the Supreme Court,^ but by the repeated practice of the 
nation. For, despite Jefferson's endeavors to set the earl}- 
Louisiana regime in such a light that it would not, in 
after years, be regarded as a precedent, the system with 
which the advent of American control at Xew Orleans 
was accompanied has been repeatedly appealed to by 
expansionists ever since. 

1 Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall, 1S2S ; American Insurance Com- 
pany and Others r. Canter. I. Peters's Reports, 511-54(3. 



CPIAPTER XIII 

ESTABLISHING THK AMERICAN REGIME 

THE territory acquired by the purchase of Louisiana 
was, for the most part, a terra incognita. Except 
for a belt along the western bank of the Mississippi, it 
was unknown alike to Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Ameri- 
cans. Under the Spanish regime it had been divided 
vaguely into two great administrative districts — Louisi- 
ana and Spanish Illinois — the one comprising the area 
south of New Madrid (^southern Missouri;, the other that 
north. Spanish Illinois, in 1803, included a number of 
small settlements and trading posts, such as those at 
Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, St. Charles, etc., with a 
total population doubtless increased somewhat over the 
six thousand which a rude census four years earlier had 
given the territory. But it was necessarily devoid of any 
system of general government. It was not until after 
the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 that this 
northern region came to be appreciated at anything like 
its full worth. And it was not until still considerably 
later that it acquired sufficient population to warrant 
definite territorial organization at the hands of the 
United States. 

Our best source of information regarding the popula- 
tion and resources of Louisiana at the time of tlie pur- 

57-5 



576 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

chase from France is a state paper communicated by 
President Jefferson to Congress, November 14, 1803.1 
According to statistics cited in this document, the popu- 
lation of tlie entire territory, in 1769, when O'Reilly took 
definite possession in behalf of Spain, was between 13,000 
and 14,000, including the 3190 people of the city of New 
Orleans. By the census of 1799, this number had in- 
creased to 42,000, of which 6000, as we have said, were 
north of New Madrid. Only 2000 lived between New 
Madrid and the Arkansas, leaving 34,000 between that 
river and the Gulf. Professor McMaster affirms that 
three-fourths of the population and seven-eighths of the 
wealth were to be found below Pointe Coupee, fifty miles 
south of the mouth of the Red.^ It is estimated that in 
1803 the total population was approximately 50,000, ex- 
clusive, of course, of the Indians, who were supposed to 
number not more than 25,000 or 30,000. Some estimates 
go as high as 60,000, and some, based on apparently good 

1 American State Papers, Miscellaneous, I. 344-356. This document 
covers a very wide range of topics, such as boundaries, territorial divi- 
sions, classes and number of population, fortifications, militia, natural 
and manufactured products, existing system of administration, exports 
and imports, etc. It is reprinted in the Old iSotith Leaflets, No. CV. 
Among other contemporary descriptions 6f the Louisiana country are 
(1) The Journal of Andrew Ellicott, Late Commissioner of the United 
States, 1796-lSOO, for determining the Boundary between the United 
States and the Possessions of his Catholic 3Iajestij in America [Phila- 
delphia, 1803] ; (2) Amos Stoddard, Sketches, Historical and. Descrip- 
tive, of Louisiana [Philadelphia, 1812] ; (3) F. M. Perrin du Lac, Voyage 
dans les deux Louisianes et chez les nations du Missotiri, x>ar les Etats- 
Unis, rOhio et les provinces qui le hordent en 1801, 1802, et 1803 [Paris, 
1805] ; and (4) Berquin-Duvallon, Vue de la colonic espagnole du Missis- 
sippi, ou des provinces de Louisiane et Floride occidentale en Varmee, 
1802 [Paris, 1803]. 

2 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III. 16. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 577 

rauthority, even higher.^ The population of New Orleiins 
was placed at 8000 to 10,000. The revenues of the city 
were $19,278, the expenses hardly $10,000. The yearly 
produce of the entire province was estimated at 3000 
pounds of indigo, 6,000,000 pounds of cotton, 5,000,000 
pounds of sugar, and 250,000 gallons of molasses. ^ The 
annual exports were valued at $2,158,000 ; the imports 
at $2,500,000. The revenues accruing to the king's 
treasury barely averaged $120,000 a year, while the 
expenses of administering the affairs of the province went 
above $800,000 in 1802. Financially, at least, Louisiana 
was a mere encumbrance to Spain. Mr. Charles Gayarre, 
the careful historian of Louisiana, states it as his conclu- 
sion that from March 5, 1766, when Ulloa landed at New 
Orleans, to November 30, 1803, when the territory was 
given over to the French, " the ordinary and extraordi- 
nary expenses incurred by Spain in relation to Louisiana, 
over and above the small revenue she derived from that 
colony, may, without exaggeration, be put down at about 
fifteen millions of dollars." ^ In other words, Spain paid as 
much for four decades of hazardous tenure as it cost the 
United States to secure full, complete, and permanent pos- 
session. This she had done in the vain hope of establishing 
a barrier in the interest of her Mexican possessions against 
the danger of English aggression through the expansion 
of the seaboard colonies. 

The peoples inhabiting Louisiana, and especially New 
Orleans, at the time of the purchase were extremely 

1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana., III. 022. 

2 Martin, History of Louisiana, II. 234. 

8 Gayarre, History of Louisiana, III. 624. 
2v 



678 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

heterogeneous — " Anglo-Hispano-Gallo-Americans," as 
Josiali Quincy called them during the famous debate on 
the admission of Louisiana in 1811. By far the most 
numerous were the French Creoles, and desj)ite forty 
years of Spanish tenure the prevailing language, social 
customs, religious institutions, and political practices 
were characteristically French. The Spaniards in the 
colony were generally of the official class. Many Ameri- 
cans had crossed the river and taken up their abode on 
what at the time was foreign soil, but most of the Eng- 
lish-speaking people in the territory were transient traders 
rather than permanent settlers. So far as the observation 
of the New Orleans Creole went, the typical American was 
the dashing, swaggering, boisterous flatboatman, who made 
his way once a year, or oftener, down the river, quarrel- 
ling with the Spanish tax officials and threatening all 
manner of dire vengeance if his precious cargo of pork 
or grain was molested. Perhaps this may account for 
the fact, which must be confessed, that Americans were 
anj^thing but popular at New Orleans, and that the pending 
establishment of the sovereignty of the United States was 
regarded with ill-concealed contempt. 

Before describing the settling of American authority 
over Louisiana, late in 1803, it will be of interest to 
review some phases of the recent history of the province 
— particularly since the retrocession from Spain to France 
in 1800. After the death of Leclerc in St. Domingo in 
1802, the man whom Napoleon first selected to head the 
expedition against Louisiana was General Bernadotte. 
Because of his excessive demands in the way of men and 
money, however, Bernadotte was given another mission — 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 579 

that of serving as minister plenipotentiary to the United 
States. 1 In his stead was substituted for the command 
of the Louisiana expedition General Victor, with whom 
was associated Pierre Clement Laussat, who in the capac- 
ity of prefect was to administer the civil affairs of the 
province after its reduction by Victor's forces. That tlie 
United States would be stirred by jealousy by the bring- 
ing of Louisiana once more under French control was 
fully expected. Therefore, so ran Victor's instructions 
from Napoleon, "the arrival of the French forces should 
be marked there by the expression of sentiments of great 
benevolence for these new neighbors." ^ Laussat was 
charged to maintain " sources of intelligence " — in plain 
English, spies — in the western states, to make all possible 
alliances with the Lidians, and never to forget that " if 
war takes place, Louisiana will certainly become the 
theatre of hostilities," The intention of the First Consul 
was declared to be " to raise Louisiana to a degree of 
strength which will allow him in time of war to abandon 
it to its own resources without anxiety ; so that enemies 
may be forced to the greatest sacrifices merely in attempt- 
ing to attack it." 

With instructions of this tenor Laussat sailed for New 
Orleans January 12, 1803, the next day after Jefferson 

1 His instructions were signed by Talleyrand, January 14, 1803. Before 
Bernadotte could leave France the war with England was renewed, and 
he remained to serve his master in a military capacity, Barb6-Marbois, 
Histnire de la Lonisiane, 22.3. 

2 " Instructions secretes pour le Captaine-G^n^ral de la Louisiane, ap- 
prouvges par le Premier Consul le 5 Frimaire, An XI." (November 26, 
1802), Archives de la Marine, Mss. Quoted in Adams, History of the 
United States, II, 6. 



680 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

had sent to the Senate Monroe's nomination as special 
envoy to France. Victor remained in Holland, laboring 
to fit out the fleet for the conquest. This work was so 
prolonged that before preparations were finished the war 
with England had been renewed. Victor's fleet was 
diverted from its original purpose, and the Louisiana 
expedition was never realized. Perhaps it would be 
better to say that the fleet was diverted from its alleged 
purpose ; for within a few weeks after the instructions 
were issued to Victor and Laussat, Napoleon was definitely 
committed to the renewal of the war, which no one under- 
stood better than he would involve the giving over of 
Louisiana to another power. 

March 23 the cabildo, or city council, at New Orleans 
completed arrangements for the reception and provision- 
ing of the large body of troops expected soon to arrive 
with General Victor. The next day a vessel came in 
from Havre bringing documents which specified the form 
of government the province was to receive at the hands 
of the French. Tliere were to be a captain-general 
at the head with a salary of 70,000 francs; a lieu- 
tenant-captain-general, to govern in Upper, or Spanish, 
Louisiana, with a salary of 20,000 francs ; two brigadier- 
generals, each with 15,000 francs a year ; two adjutant- 
commandants, with 9000 francs each ; and a colonial 
prefect, with 50,000 francs. ^ The captain-general was 
to be commander-in-chief of the land and naval forces 
and to have general charge of the relations of the colony 
with other colonies and powers. The colonial prefect, 
the second officer in importance, was to administer the 
1 Martin, History of Louisiana, II. 182-184. 



xiii ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 581 

colony's finances, including taxes and expenditures, con- 
trol the police system, and oversee trade, agriculture, the 
public stores, the census, the press, public instruction and 
worship, and in general the other interests formerly in 
charge of the Spanish intendant. Another officer of 
importance was the commissary of justice, who, as his 
title would indicate, was to superintend the courts and 
prepare a provisional civil and criminal code. There 
was, of course, no provision for popular government. 
Only monarchical institutions were in favor with the 
originators of the system. But it was rightly judged 
that the Louisianians, never having known anything but 
absolutism, would not complain on this score. In truth, 
the inhabitants of the territory were for a time overjoyed 
with the prospect of being once more united with the 
nation whose blood flowed in the veins of nine out of 
ten of them. 

On the 2Gtli of March the colonial prefect, Laussat, 
arrived at New Orleans. He was received by the Spanish 
governor and intendant, the clergy of the city, the leading 
military officials, and a group of other dignitaries, with 
flattering cordiality ; while among the jDopulace his com- 
ing was made the occasion of the wildest enthusiasm and 
excitement. In the course of the ceremonies of his reception 
Laussat made an address in which he declared that in her 
prospective control of Louisiana, France would be careful 
to serve only the interests of the colony. In fact, said 
he, it was for this alone that Napoleon had secured the 
retrocession. Order was to be strictly maintained ; 
treaties with the Indian nations were to be observed, 
laws and customs were to be respected ; the clergy were 



582 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

to be protected, and religion and education consistently 
fostered.^ 

Nevertheless, there were some discordant notes in the 
psean of welcome with which the prefect was greeted. 
The slave owners constituted a large proportion of the 
inhabitants, and these, remembering how the French had 
abolished slavery in St. Domingo in 179-1, became appre- 
hensive lest a similar course should now be followed in 
Louisiana. In a despatch to his home government, March 
29, the Spanish intendant. Morales, declared that this con- 
sideration had largely offset the rejoicing with which 
Laussat's coming had first been hailed. ^ The reaction 
speedily went so far as to lead a contemporary writer, 
quoted by Barbe-Marbois in his account of this period, 
to say : " Every one will be astonished to learn that a 
people of French descent have received without emotion 
and without any apparent interest a French magistrate, 
who comes to us, accompanied by his young and beautiful 
family, and preceded by the public esteem. Nothing 
has been able to diminish the alarms which his mission 
causes. His proclamations have been heard by some 
with sadness, and by the greater part of the inhabitants 
with the same indifference as the beat of the drum is 
listened to when it announces the escape of a slave or 
a sale at auction." ^ Nothing could have been more wel- 
come to the majority of Louisianians than the restoration 
of French authority under the old Bourbon regime. Upon 
second thought, however, there appeared much doubt as 

1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana^ III. 580. 

2 Ihid., 581. 

* Barb6-Marbois, Histoire de la Louisiane, 226-227. 



Xiii ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 583 

to whether the new order in France might not rob the 
retrocession of its boasted benefits for the coh)ny. 

One of Laussat's first acts was to despatch to Decres, 
the minister of marine, a detailed account of the state 
of the retroceded territory. The era of Spanish control 
was declared to have been a period of decline. New 
Orleans was pictured as being in a more backward con- 
dition than when it became a Spanish colony. " The 
fortifications," wrote Laussat, " have never been kept up, 
and are falling into decay; the ditches are filling up; the 
terraces are crumbling down ; the palisades are wanting, 
or rotten ; the bridges have given away, or consist only 
of one or two beams ; the gates are off their hinges, and 
are lying on the ground. . . . With regard to public 
edifices, those which we find here are the same which 
have been left by the French. The Spaniards have not 
made any solid and permanent constructions," ^ 

Having described the shiftlessness and low public spirit 
which characterized the Spanish regime, Laussat next paid 
his respects to the Spanish colonial government as exist- 
ing at New Orleans. " I will now proceed," he writes, " to 
say how justice is administered here, which is worse than 
in Turkey. All judgments are given in the name of the 
governor, except in matters appertaining to the revenue, 
in which the authority of the intendant is supreme. . . . 
Suits are so expensive that a good many individuals prefer 
to sacrifice their interests, however considerable they may 
be, than maintain them at law. Tlie right of appeal to 
Cuba and to Madrid is a slow and ruinous remedy." ^ 

There is evidence to corroborate Laussat's low estimate 

1 Gayarr^, History of Loxdsiana, III. 582. '•^ Ibid., 583. 



584 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

of Spanish judicial processes. Daniel Clark, the United 
States consul at New Orleans, wrote to the Department 
of State at Washington in 1803 : " All the officers plunder 
when tlie opportunity offers; they are all venal. A bar- 
gain can be made with the governor, intendant, judge, or 
collector, down to the constable ; and if ever an officer be 
displeased at an offer of money, it is not at the offer or 
offerer, but because imperious circumstances compel him 
to refuse, and the offerer acquires a degree of favor 
which encourages him to make a second offer when a. 
better opportunity is presented." ^ 

As to the right of deposit, Laussat in his report made 
suggestions which indicate that he was already planning 
to nullify the reopening of the New Orleans port by tiie 
Spanish government in 1803. Napoleon had been greatly 
incensed at the overruling of Morales's closure, and Avas 
determined, through his agents, to put an end to the 
freedom of American traffic down the river. Laussat 
wrote that this purpose might be achieved in either of 
two ways : first, by withdrawing again the right of deposit 
and compelling the traders to store their goods in govern- 
ment warehouses ; second, by taking advantage of the right 
reserved by Spain to substitute some other place for New 
Orleans, and designating some "wholly untenable spot." 
It is evident that had French tenure long continued in 
Louisiana after the retrocession, and without the limita- 

1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, III. 584. Gayarr^ comments as fol- 
lows : "This is a frightful picture. Tiiat there were but too many cases of 
corruption seems to be true, but that it should have been systematically 
carried to the extent here described by Laussat and Daniel Clark, is 
somewhat rebutted by other testimony, and not confirmed by living wit- 
nesses of great respectability." 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN K^GIME 585 

tions which Jefferson at first hoped to impose upon it, the 
use of the lower Mississippi must have become as contro- 
verted a matter as during the earlier Spanish occupancy. 

To . Laussat's proclamation of the good intentions of 
the French government toward Louisiana a considerable 
number of leading planters replied in a formal address. 
They declared that their "most ardent wish had always 
been to resume the glorious name of Frenchmen," and 
that the proclamation which announced to them that their 
long-cherished hope was gratified had " filled their souls 
witli the delirium of extreme felicity." Nevertheless, tliey 
went on to make it plain that they were not suffering by 
reason of the Spanish occupation. "• We should be unworthy 
of what is to us a source of much pride if we did not ac- 
knowledge that we have no cause of complaint against the 
Spanish government. We have never groaned under the 
iron yoke of an oppressive despotism. ... We [the French 
and Spanish] have become bound together by family con- 
nections and by the bonds of friendship. Let them have 
the untrammelled enjoyment of all the property they may 
own on the soil which has become the land of freedom, and 
let us share with them, like brothers, the blessings of our 
new position."^ At the same time the inhabitants of New 
Orleans presented also an address to Laussat. It began 
by declaring : " Thirty-four years of foreign domination 
have not weakened in our hearts the sacred love of country, 
and our joy in returning to our national flag is equal in 
intensity to the grief we felt when we were forcibly 
separated from it. Happy are the colonists of Louisiana 
who have lived long enough to see their reunion to 
^ Gayarre, History of Louisiana, III. 588. 



586 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

France, which they had never ceased to desire, and which 
now satisfies their utmost wishes ! In an age so fruitful 
in astonishing events it is unquestionable that some have 
occurred which are greater, more imposing and more 
memorable, but perhaps none offer a spectacle as interest- 
ing and as affecting as that of victorious and triumphant 
France holding out a protecting hand to her children, 
cast away, of old, from her bosom, in consequence of the 
weakness and prevarication of a pusillanimous govern- 
ment, and calling them to a share in the fruits of a glori- 
ous peace,^ which has terminated in so brilliant a manner 
the most bloody and terrible revolution. . . . Perhaps 
France would attach less value to the homage of our 
fidelity, if she saw us relinquishing without any regret 
our allegiance to the sovereign who has loaded us with 
favors, during all the time he had reigned over us. Such 
culpable indifference is not to be found in our hearts, in 
which our regret at our separating from him occupies as 
much space as our joy in securing the nationality we had 
lost, and it is by keeping up an eternal recollection of his 
favors, that we intend to show ourselves worthy of the 
parental attachment and of the benefits which we expect 
from the French government." 

These two addresses are remarkable testimonies to the 
satisfaction of the colonists with the Spanish administra- 
tion in Louisiana. It is not often, as Mr. Gayarre says, 
that "departing power is greeted with such hosannas, and 
that the incense of public worship is offered to the setting 
sun." 

1 The peace of Amiens, broken by Napoleon within a few weeks after 
this address was written. ^ Gayarr^, History of Louisiana^ III. 589-590. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 587 

April 10, the Marquis de Casa Calvo, a former governor 
of Louisiana,! arrived from Havana, having been sent by 
the Marquis of Somoruelos, captain-general of Cuba, to 
act with the governor, Salcedo, in delivering the control 
of Louisiana into the hands of the French. He was well 
remembered in the colony, where numerous anecdotes 
concerning his haughty disposition, yet courtly manners, 
were the commonplaces of the street. Perhaps the most 
characteristic of these anecdotes was the one representing 
him as exclaiming, when reproached for returning the bow 
of a negro, " Shall I be outdone in politeness by a negro ? " 
Li a letter to Decres, Laussat described Salcedo as " an 
infirm old man in his dotage," and expressed the opinion 
that the Cuban captain-general had sent a special com- 
missioner for the transfer of Louisiana because he con- 
sidered " old Salcedo not presentable to the French." 
Because of Casa Calvo's reputation as a hater of the 
French, Laussat was inclined to think that a better man 
might have been found for the mission. The coming of 
the marquis to New Orleans was followed by a time of 
general festivity among the inhabitants. Neither Spanish 
nor French proposed to allow the transfer to be made 
without fitting ceremony. The whole population, but 
especially the aristocrats of both nationalities, entered 
upon a bewildering series of fetes, balls, and theatrical 
entertainments, which came to an end only after the 
energies and purses of all were showing unmistakable 
signs of exhaustion. 

The following vivid account of the festivities, written 

1 In 1797-1798. He had previously been in command of Fort Dauphin 
in St. Dominfro. 



588 • THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

by an observer of them, is worth quoting : " M. Laussat 
exhibited in brilliant entertainments, embellished by the 
graces of his affable and beautiful wife, that fascinating 
elegance which seems to be one of the attributes of the 
French character. The Louisianian ladies, who looked 
upon her as a model of taste, appeared at those entertain- 
ments with a magnificence which was a just cause of 
astonishment in such a colony, and which might have 
been successfully compared with any efforts of that sort 
even in the principal cities of France. The Louisianian 
ladies, who may justly be said to be remarkable for their 
habitual gravity, are generally tall and exquisitely shaped; 
the alabaster whiteness of their complexion, which was 
admirably set off by their light dresses, adorned with 
flowers and rich embroidery, gave a fairy-like appearance 
to these festivities. The last one, particularly, astonished 
me by its magnificence. After tea and the concert were 
over, the dancing was interrupted at midnight, and the 
guests went down to a saloon — where, on a table laid for 
sixty or eighty persons, arose, on the top of rocks, the 
temple of Good Faith surrounded with columns, and sur- 
mounted by a dome, under which was placed the allegori- 
cal statue of the goddess. But, farther on, beyond that 
room, one was attracted by the flood of light which burst 
from an immense pavilion, in the shape of a gallery. 
There, forty or fifty tables, covered with a variety of 
dishes, were spread for the accommodation of four or five 
hundred guests, who grouped themselves round them in 
small detached parties. The tendency of these festivities 
was, no doubt, to spread the taste for pleasure and luxury 
in a colony which, being in its nascent state, still needs a 



XIII ESTABLISHING THi: AMERICAN REGIME 689 

great deal of economy and labor ; but, nevertheless, these 
entertainments, under the circumstances in which they 
were given, were the result of a useful and enlightened 
policy, because they strengthened the common customs 
and manners which connected us and the colonists, caus- 
ing them to cherish what is French, and impressing them 
with a proper sense of the grandeur of the mother 
country." ^ 

Six weeks after the Marquis of Casa Calvo's arrival 
a proclamation was issued by the Spanish authorities, 
formally announcing the intention of their sovereign to 
surrender the province to the French Republic. ^ All 
persons employed in any branch of the king's service and 
wishing to remain under his government were to be free 
to go to Cuba or any other portion of the Spanish realm. 
Laussat disliked the inducements held out to the colonists 
to continue their allegiance to Spain, and reported to 
Decres that the marquis had gone so far as to exact a 
promise of continued allegiance from two companies of 
negro militia, which included all the mechanics New 
Orleans possessed. Two of these men declared to Laussat 
that they had been imprisoned for twenty-four hours to 
force them to give the desired pledge. 

As the weeks went by Laussat became more and more 
impatient. He found his position an extremely embar- 
rassing one. It was Victor, not Laussat, who had been 
commissioned by Napoleon to receive the Louisiana terri- 

1 Claude C. Robin, Voyages dans Vinterieurde la Louisiane, de la Flo- 
ride occidentale, et dans les isles de la Martiniqrie et de Saint-Domiugue, 
pendant les annees 1S03, 1S03, IS04, 1S05, et 1S06 [Paris, 1807], II., 
131-132. Translated in Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, III. 016-G17. 

2 Martin, History of Louisiana, II. 188, 



590 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

tory from the Spanish, and the long-awaited expedition 
had not yet arrived. Laussat was empowered only to 
govern the territory as prefect after the transfer had 
been made. Prior to that he could do little or nothing 
officially. To Decres he continued to write, rehearsing 
the high-handed measures of the S^^anish and the gener- 
ally unsatisfactory conditions which prevailed. " I see 
these things," he declares, " without daring to take 
exception, for fear of making them worse. The Spanish 
authorities have shown themselves exceedingly reserved, 
more captious, and even almost haughty towards me. To 
every one of my demands or applications the government 
has an evasive answer prepared. It shuns, isolates, and 
watches me. It takes umbrage at the least of my steps 
or proceedings, or even at my language, however insignifi- 
cant it may be. It is afraid of complying with my plain- 
est requests. Firmness and dignity are all that I have to 
oppose to their prejudices and unreasonableness. But, 
frequently, I am obliged to keep pent up within my breast 
my feelings of vexation, because the Spanish authorities 
might take offence at them and revenge themselves, with- 
out my being able to prevent it, on the friends of the 
French."! 

Vague rumors of the sale of Louisiana to the United 
States reached New Orleans in the early summer, but no 
one was at first inclined to give them the least degree of 
credence. Laussat assured the people that such a move 
on the First Consul's part was utterly inconceivable. 
Nevertheless, on the 28th of July he wrote to Decres 
that the story was coming from so many sources that the 
J Gayarr^, History of Lnnisiana, III. 595-590. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIxME 591 

colonists were beginning to entertain ugly suspicions, 
and he wished specific authority to declare it a mere 
calumny. Hardly was this request despatched when 
a vessel, fresh from Bordeaux, came into the New Or- 
leans port, bearing a letter from Napoleon to Laussat in 
which the transaction with Monroe and Livingston tliree 
months before was fully set forth. Under date of June 
6 the First Consul had designated Laussat commissioner 
both to receive Louisiana from the Spaniards and to deliver 
it to the commissioners to be appointed by the United 
States. These instructions came to Laussat " like thun- 
der out of a clear sky." Instead of assuming control of 
the colony as prefect after Victor should have established 
a French military occupation over it, he was himself to take 
it over from the Spaniards, and with the enjoyment of at 
best but a few weeks' sovereignty pass it on to the Ameri- 
cans. Of course there was nothing to do but obey with- 
out a word of protest. 

The ceremony of transfer from Spain to France was 
arranged for November 30th. On that day Casa Calvo, 
Salcedo, and Laussat, together with all the officials, clergy, 
and other dignitaries of the colony, both Spanish and French, 
assembled in the cabildo, or city hall, and proceeded in 
an elaborate ceremony to execute the instructions of the 
European governments. Laussat exhibited an order from 
Don Carlos of Spain for the yielding of the colony and 
another from Napoleon authorizing him to receive it. 
The keys of the city were given into the prefect's keeping, 
and the Spanish commissioners absolved from their former 
allegiance all the inhabitants of the colony who should pre- 
fer to remain under French sovereignty. The three chief 



592 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

dignitaries took up their position on the main balcony of 
the hall, while the Spanish flag, after being saluted by a 
discharge of artillery, was drawn down from the staff 
which stood in the open space now known as Jackson 
Square, but then as the Place d' Amies, in front of the 
cabildo, and replaced by the flag of France, which was 
similarly saluted. The square was occupied by the Span- 
iards and a squad of local militia, while on all sides the 
populace crowded together to witness the inauguration of 
the ephemeral French regime. ^ 

The public proclamation with which Laussat followed 
the ceremony of transfer expressed at the same time his 
regret that the French restoration was but temporary and 
his sincere hope that in the rapid succession of govern- 
ments the people of the colony might continue to prosper 
and be happy. "The mission which brought me among you 
across the sea," he declared, "through a distance of seventy- 
five hundred miles,that mission on which I had long rested 
so many fond hopes, and so many ardent wishes for your 
happiness, is now totally changed ; and the one with 
which I am now charged, less gratifying, but still equally 
flattering to me, offers me one source of consolation — 
which springs from the reflection that it will, in its results, 
be more advantageous to you. The Commissioners of his 
Catholic Majesty, in conformity with the powers and 
orders which they and I have respectively received, have 
just delivered me the possession of the province. You 



1 Grace King, Nev) Orleans, 157-161 ; King and Ficklen, History of 
Louisiana, 152-154: ; Gayarre, History of Louisiana, III. Ch. X. ; Martin, 
History of Louisiana, II. Ch. X. ; and Barb6-Marbois, Histoire de la 
Louisiane, 352-355. 



xm ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 593 

see the flag of the French Kepublic now displayed, and 
you hear the repeated detonations of her guns, announc- 
ing to you to-day, on all sides, the return of French domi- 
nation. It will be for an instant only, Louisianians, and 
I am on the eve of transferring the possession of this col- 
ony to the Commissioners of the United States. They 
are near at hand — I expect them soon." 

The motive beliind the sale was thus adroitly put : " The 
approaching struggles of a war begun under the most san- 
guinary and terrible auspices, and threatening the safety 
of the four quarters of the world, had induced the French 
government to turn its attention toward Louisiana, and 
to reflect on her destinies. Considerations of prudence 
and humanity, connecting themselves with those of a more 
vast and durable policy — worthy, in one word, of the 
man whose genius weighs at this very hour in its scales 
the fates of so many great nations — have given a new 
direction to the beneficent intentions of France towards 
Louisiana. She has ceded it to the United States of 
America."^ 

Laussat endeavored to reconcile the people to the sale 
by demonstrating how by it alone they were saved from 
the danger of a British conquest. He called attention to 
the clause of the purchase treaty guaranteeing the early 
incorporation of the inhabitants of the ceded territories 
into the " Union of the United States," and congratulated 
them upon becoming thus identified with a nation "which 
by its rapid progress seems destined to the most brill- 
iant rank that a people ever enjoyed on the face of the 
earth." He declared further that by the transfer the 

1 Gayarr^, Histonj of Louisiana, III. 600 et seq. 
2q 



594 THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

colonists — soon to be no longer such — would escape the 
almost inevitable commercial restriction of the colonial 
condition, and would, along with the rest of the United 
States, enjoy boundless freedom of exporting and import- 
ing. " Your country will become an immense warehouse 
or place of deposit, affording you countless profits. The 
Nile of America, the Mississippi, which flows, not through 
parched deserts of sand, but through the most extensive 
and the most fertile plains of the new world, will soon 
see its bosom darkened with a thousand ships belonging 
to all nations of the earth, and mooring at the quays of 
another Alexandria." 

The Spanish regime being now at an end, it became 
necessary for Laussat to establish a temporary government 
under French control to maintain the colony in order 
until such time as the commissioners of the United States 
should be ready to receive it. No attempt was made to 
set up the elaborate system which Napoleon had outlined 
before the sale to the United States, yet the provisional 
administration organized was quite complete. It included 
an administrator-general, a treasurer, a mayor, two ad- 
juncts, and a municipal council of teli members substi- 
tuted for the old Spanish cabildo. The militia was 
re-officered, and it was proclaimed that the famous Black 
Code given to the province by Bienville under the au- 
thority of Louis XV. in 1724, excepting those parts which 
were inconsistent with the Constitution of the United 
States, should be considered the temporary law of the 
land.i 

1 Martin, History of Louisiana^ II. 197. For a synopsis of the Black 
Code, see Gayarrt, History of Louisiana, I. Appendix. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN r6gIME 605 

Within a few days the Spanish troops were withdrawn, 
leaving the military posts unoccupied. In or near the city 
of New Orleans there were four of these posts. The troops 
of the United States not having arrived to occupy them, 
there was much fear that in the interim they would be 
seized by lawless parties, and either destroyed or used as 
strongholds from which to defy the provisional government. 
To insure against such danger a number of young Ameri- 
cans in the city, led by Daniel Clark,i the consular agent 
of the United States, and increased in numbers by several 
French Creoles, organized themselves into a battalion of 
three hundred or more members, and put their services 
at the disposal of Laussat. The Americans were mostly 
captains and mates of vessels, merchants, clerks, and sea- 
men belonging to vessels in port. There were as yet few 
resident Americans in the colony. Says Monette in his 
History of the Valley of the Mississippi : " The French, by 
their zeal, vigilance, and patriotism during their time of 
service, proved themselves worthy of American citizenship. 
Their services were gladly accepted, and detachments from 
their numbers were detailed upon regular tours of duty in 
patrolling the city by day and by night." ^ 

The commissioners appointed by President Jefferson to 
receive the Louisiana cession were General James Wilkin- 



1 Clark had been for twenty years a resident of New Orleans, and was 
now a wealthy planter and merchant. Andrew Ellicott, in his Journal, 
p. 174, says that Clark was commissioned to serve as consul at New 
Orleans primarily for the purpose of preventing injustice to American 
merchantmen, whose ships were being captured by French privateers in 
the West Indies and condemned without show of justice in the courts of 
the Louisiana capital. 

2 Monette, History of the Valley of the Mississippi, I. 56. 



596 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

son, who despite his dubious relations with the Spaniards 
a decade before had risen to a high ]30sition of command 
in the United States army, and Governor William 
Claiborne, of the Mississippi territory. A week before 
the transfer from Spain to France Laussat had held 
a two-hour interview with Wilkinson, who was then 
returning from the Florida frontier by way of New 
Orleans, and had discussed with him various courses of 
action to be adopted in case the Spanish should resist 
yielding possession of the colony. In a letter to Decres, 
December 10,^ the prefect declared he had hastened the 
ceremony of transfer from Spain because he suspected the 
good faith of the Spaniards, and did not wish to give them 
time to receive instructions contrary to the execution of 
the Ildefonso treaty. Laussat well knew how bitterly 
the Spanish ministry and Yrujo at Washington were up- 
braiding the United States for accepting a bargain based 
on Napoleon's breach of faith with Spain. Nor was he 
alone in his suspicions. Due to Yrujo's activity, the 
Administration would not have been much surprised had 
the Spaniards balked in the proceedings at New Orleans. 
Jefferson proposed to take no risks, and therefore ordered 
ample military preparations in the Southwest, so that force 
could be made to supplement diplomacy if necessary. 
Parts of the militia of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee 
were to be held in readiness to advance upon New Orleans 
instantly upon command. Fort Adams, near the intersec- 
tion of the present southern state line of Mississippi with the 
river, was made the base of operations in the contemplated 
campaign, and a considerable force of militia was collected 
1 Quoted in Gayarrfi, History of Louisiana, III. 608-616. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 597 

there. Five hundred Tennesseeans under the command 
of Colonel Doghert}^ advanced as far as Natchez, while 
Governor Claiborne had ordered a company of Mississippi 
cavalry to be ready to march with him to New Orleans, 
December 10. 

The expedition was delayed somewhat, and it was not 
until the 17th that it reached the vicinity of New Orleans. 
On the following day Laussat sent two prominent French 
citizens to conduct Claiborne and Wilkinson into the 
city. With an escort of thirty of the Mississippi cavalry 
the commissioners came to the prefect's house and were 
received with a salute of nineteen guns. On the 19th 
Laussat returned the courtesy by a visit to the American 
camp two miles out from the city. Without further delay 
arrangements for the ceremony of transfer were consum- 
mated. 

From contemporary letters and papers recent Louisiana 
writers have been able to piece together a most interesting 
and detailed account of this notable occasion. The day 
of the transfer — December 20 — was one of those bright, 
balmy days so characteristic of the Crescent City in early 
winter. Those who looked with favor upon the event 
about to occur contrasted the beauties of the day with the 
rainy dreariness of the day three weeks before on which 
the French had assumed their short-lived possession, and 
took it to augur well for the colony in its newest relation. 
At nine o'clock, by order of Laussat, the ceremony began 
by the assembling of all the militia in the Place d'Armes. 
Already the populace of the city was astir and the streets 
were thronged. The square was then much more open 
than now and twice as large, and the view from it included 



598 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the great sweep of the river as it rounded the crescent 
which gives the city its second name. The vessels which 
lay at the levee were decorated with flags, and everywhere 
there were the signs of a public holiday. " In the centre 
of the Place d'Armes," says Miss King, " arose the great 
flagstaff, bearing the flimsiest of fabrics and strongest of 
symbols that has ever held the hearts of mortals to a 
coign of earth. About the staff were grouped the mili- 
tary, a vivid spot of steel and color, and around them, and 
as far as eye could see, human faces, eagerly looking up in 
the bright December sun, a motley of color and expres- 
sion, white, black, yellow, red, Frenchman, Spaniard, 
African, mulatto, Indian, and, most visible of all by his 
height and boisterous triumph on the occasion, the tall, 
lanky Westerner, in coonskin cap and leathern hunting- 
shirt." ^ For many a person in the crowd this was to be 
the third such occasion he had lived to see. No doubt 
there were many who hoped it would be the last. It 
was not altogether agreeable to be tossed about among the 
nations so promiscuously as the Louisianians had been. 

When the American cavalcade started from the camp 
a cannon was fired as a signal, and when the city had 
been entered by the Tchoupitoulas gate the fact was 
announced by a salute of twenty guns from Fort St. 
Charles. By noon the American troops were in the 
Place d'Armes, occupying a station on the side of the 
square opposite the militia. They included a detachment 
of dragoons in red uniform, two companies of infantry, 
one of carabineers, four pieces of artillery, and a number 
of cannoneers. 

1 Grace King, New Orleans, 161. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN R£gIME 599 

While the American soldiery vied with the local militia 
in maintaining a dignified presence in the Place d'Armes, 
Claiborne and Wilkinson were conducted into the presence 
of Laussat and his suite. The meeting occurred in that 
historic old structure which under the Spanish regime was 
known as the cabildo, because in it the municipal council, 
or cabildo, was accustomed to meet, but which the French 
had christened the Hotel de Ville. This building, prob- 
ably the finest of its kind in America a hundred years 
ago, is still standing, and is described as a "picturesque, 
imposing, and dignified meeting place for the Supreme 
Court of the state " — blackened and worn, but yet 
elegant in its luxurious architecture and its historical 
associations. Its council chamber and adjacent balcony 
have been the scenes of many notable ceremonies, among 
which the transfer of Louisiana from France to the United 
States is easily first in interest and importance. 

The meeting in the council chamber on this occasion 
was an especially brilliant one. Besides the suite of 
Laussat there were present numerous influential citizens 
— churchmen, Spanish cavaliers, and French officials. 
The ceremonies were similar to those performed in the 
same place three weeks before, with a mere change in the 
parties participating. The treaty of cession was read in 
both English and French, Laussat read his credentials 
issued by Napoleon, and Claiborne read his commission 
from President Jefferson. The prefect then formally 
proclaimed the cession accomplished and handed over to 
Claiborne the keys of New Orleans.^ The inhabitants of 

1 The written instrument of cession, signed by Claiborne, Wilkinson, 
and Laussat, is in the Annals of Congress (1804-1805), 1230-1231. 



600 THE OrENlNG OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Louisiana who chose to pass under the new government 
were declared to be absolved from their oath of fidelity to 
the French Republic. 

This done, the commissioners walked out upon the bal- 
cony, in view of the assembled populace, and Claiborne 
addressed the throng, congratulating them on the event 
"which irrevocably fixed their political existence and no 
longer left it open to the caprices of chance." He assured 
them that the United States received them as brothers, 
and would hasten to extend to them a participation in 
the invaluable rights forming the basis of their own 
unexampled prosperity ; and that, in the meanwhile, 
the people would be protected in the enjoyment of 
their liberty, property, and religion, that their com- 
merce would be favored and their agriculture en- 
couraged.''^ 

All the while the tricolor of France had been floating 
at the top of the tall staff in the centre of the Place 
d'Armes. But now the time had come to lower it. 
With the commissioners still standing at the edge of the 
balcony and the people crowding below to hear Clai- 
borne's address, — though probably not half could under- 
stand a word that was spoken, — slowly the tricolor 
began to descend and the stars and stripes to ascend. 
When they met halfway a gun was fired as a signal, and 
immediately the land batteries began their discharges, 
which were responded to by the armed vessels in the 

1 Some regard the entire ceremony as having talcen place on the bal- 
cony, e.g. Dr. Hosmer, in his Louisiana Purchase, 169-170. Miss Grace 
King's view, set forth in her Neio Orleans, 162-165, has been adopted by 
the writer. 

2 Claiborne's brief address upon this occasion is in the Atinals of Con- 
gress (1804-1805), 1233. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN Ri:GIME 601 

river. According to Miss King, twenty-one days before, 
when the French flag was flung to the breeze for its last 
brief reign in Louisiana, a band of fifty old soldiers 
formed themselves into a guard of honor to act as a kind 
of death watch to their national emblem.^ They stood 
now at the foot of the staff and received in their arms the 
tricolor as it descended, and wdiile the Americans were 
rending the air with their shouts, they marched silently 
away, their sergeant bearing it at their head. The scene 
was viewed by all with the profoundest marks of respect. 
The American troops as they passed presented arms to 
the banner of the departed power, and it was carried 
to the government house and left in the keeping of 
Laussat. Never again was it, or any of its kind, to wave 
as the symbol of established supremacy over any part of 
the North American continent. No one understood better 
than the French prefect the far-reaching significance of 
the occasion. In his despatches to Decres he recurs again 
and again to the enormity of the sacrifice which Napoleon 
had made. " The Americans," he wrote, " have given 
$15,000,000 for Louisiana ; they would have given 
$50,000,000 rather than not possess it. . . . In a few 
years the country as far as the Rio Bravo will be in a 
state of cultivation. New Orleans will then have a popu- 
lation of from thirty thousand to fifty thousand souls, and 
the country will produce sugar enough to supply America 
and part of Europe. Let us not blind ourselves; in a few 
years the existing prejudices wull be worn off; the inhab- 
itants will gradually become Americans by the introduc- 
tion of native Americans and Englishmen — a system 
1 Grace King, Neio Orleans, 163. 



602 THE OPENING OF THE MISSLSSIPPI chap. 

already begun. What a magnificent New France have 
we lost ! " 1 

Although the French population could hardly have 
been expected to join in the cheering with which the 
lowering of the tricolor was accompanied, there were not 
a few other evidences that the establishment of the new 
regime aroused no enthusiasm on part of the majority 
of the people. Governor Claiborne's speech was listened 
to respectfully, but sullenly. His '' Louisianians, my 
fellow-citizens " fell fiat. After the American troops had 
defiled out of one side of the square and the militia out of 
another, and the crowds had returned to their labors and 
amusements, the new governor must have been fairly 
appalled at the magnitude of the task before him. He 
had been commissioned, not only to receive Louisiana, but 
also to administer its affairs until Congress should decide 
upon the proper government for it. The ill-concealed 
indifference, and even hostility, of large portions of the 
inhabitants augured not well for the future. And the 
storm of controversy which was sweeping the country as 
the result of the purchase rendered congressional action 
extremely uncertain. A less conscientious and patriotic 
man would have hesitated to transfer his labors from the 
quiet Mississippi to the petulant Louisiana territory. 

Receiving from Laussat the command of the militia, 
Claiborne at once took measures to increase its efficiency, 
though he was careful to man the posts and guard-houses 
with his own troops. On the same day of the transfer he 
supplemented his address from the cabildo balcony with 
a proclamation reiterating the good intentions of the 
1 Martin, History of Louisiana, II. 244. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME UU3 

United States and exhorting- all the inhabitants to faithful 
allegiance to their new flag.i The laws and municipal 
regulations which were in force at the time of the cession 
were, to continue unchanged, pending the action of 
Congress. 

The latter phase of the situation was the most pregnant 
with trouble. It was truly an anomalous position in 
which Claiborne found himself. In him were vested all 
the powers of the defunct government, a curious Gallo- 
Spanish hybrid; and combining as he did the preroga- 
tives of governor-general, intendant, and what not, was 
possessed of vastly more power than had been enjoyed by 
any official in the employ of either the French or Spanish 
monarchies. His position as a kind of absolute proconsul 
seemed absurdly out of harmony with the republican pre- 
tensions of the nation he served. Moreover, he was to 
administer laws which he knew nothing about, — could 
not even read, — and to enforce Spanish municipal regula- 
tions of which he had never heard, and which were 
thoroughly inconsistent with all that his political training 
and experience had taught him to consider just and right. 
Much to the increase of his perplexities, he recognized the 
fact that most of the inhabitants were suspicious and 
inclined to be rebellious. The few Americans in the 
territory were hopelessly lost in the mass of Creoles, 
Spaniards, negroes, and other discontented elements. A 
score of traits were possessed by the French and Spanish 
in common, and both alike hated the Americans. Espe- 
cially indignant were they at the idea of being bought by 

1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, III. 020. The text of the proclama- 
tion is ill the Annals of Congress (1804-1805), 1232. 



604 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

the Americans. " Every American," sajs Miss King, 
" who walked the streets of New Orleans, did it with the 
air of a personal purchaser of the province, an arrogance 
unbearable to the Creoles, who resented it with an arro- 
gance still more galling to the Americans." ^ As far as 
possible they ignored the existence of the new govern- 
ment. In not a few cases they even spurned to take 
office under it. English having become the governmental 
language, the Creoles steadfastly refused to learn it, or to 
use it if they happened to be able to do so. Claiborne 
knew no French or Spanish, and naturally surrounded 
himself with advisers and officials appointed from the 
Americans, who began to come in greater numbers into 
the province. This only increased the jealousy of the 
older population, who foresaw their complete eclipse politi- 
cally by the newcomers. Not only was the government 
of Claiborne despised, but the future settlement by Con- 
gress was dreaded. Would the United States fulfil her 
obligations as set forth in the third article of the purchase 
treaty, or would she continue the high-handed regime 
instituted under Claiborne? The notorious division of 
opinion throughout the country and the prolongation and 
lieat of the Louisiana debates in Congress gave much 
ground for apprehension. " A Creole and an American 
could not meet without a dispute and an affray. The 
animosity involved all ; the governor himself and the 
United States general, Wilkinson, actively participated in 
it. At night, insurrectionary placards posted on the cor- 
ners of the street attracted crowds around them, prevent- 
ing their being torn away, reading them aloud, copying 
1 Grace King, Neio Orleans, 164. 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME 605 

them. Every day produced its crop of duels ; the gov- 
ernor's private secretary and brother-in-law, attempting 
to refute a slander, was killed in one. The old militia 
was disorganized, and there was too much jealousy and 
distrust, too distinct a line drawn between the two popu- 
lations, to hope for any new, common, efficient force." ^ 

To make matters worse, Caso Calvo and his suite lin- 
gered, and continued by their social graces to emphasize 
the uncouthness of the Americans. The Spaniards now 
took pleasure in reversing the situation of ten or twelve 
years before. By subtle hints of Spanish invasions, or 
French and Spanish designs jointly to recover Louisiana 
from the United States, they managed to keep Claiborne 
in as apprehensive a state of mind as Carondelet and 
other Spanish governors had suffered in the days before 
the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real. 

At last came news from Congress. March 23, 1804, an 
act (the Breckenridge Act) had been passed, dividing the 
province into two parts and providing for the administra- 
tion of the new Territory of Orleans. The j^roclamation 
of this measure, however, only added to the discontent 
of the Louisianians. Scarcely a feature of it met with 
approval. The division of the territory was bitterly re- 
sented as being evidence of the intention of Congress to 
diminish its importance and postpone as long as possible 
the execution of the third article of the treaty. The pro- 
hibition of the importation of slaves, except by new immi- 
grants into the territory, was regarded as a blow aimed at 
the prosperity of the older inhabitants. And the provi- 
sion of the act which declared certain land concessions 
i Grace King, Xein Orleans, 105. 



606 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

made by the Spanish government null and void was 
looked upon as but an entering wedge for a general policy 
of confiscation and dispossession. Altogether there ap- 
peared small reason to hope for an early incorporation 
into the Union with " the rights, advantages, and immuni- 
ties of citizens of the United States." 

Laussat, who like Casa Calvo (though with better 
motives) had lingered for a while at New Orleans, com- 
municated to the French ministry a lively description of the 
first four or five months of the American regime and 
the state of feeling which prevailed among the people of 
the territory. He declared that while the Creoles had at 
first scorned the idea of a transfer to the United States, 
yet as the time of the change of dominion approached 
they became pretty well reconciled to it and rather hospit- 
able toward the prospective government. " But," he 
continues, " hardly had the agents of that government 
taken the reins in hand, when they accumulated errors 
on errors, and blunders on blunders." He then proceeded 
to enumerate a long list of these errors and blunders — 
many of which seem to us to have been quite unavoidable, 
and hence not rightly styled errors, but all of which 
certainly did have a part in producing the local disaffec- 
tion which Laussat considered so serious. Among the 
acts enumerated were the introduction of the English 
language, the preference shown American over French 
dances at public balls, the partiality shown Americans in 
the offices and courts, the "arbitrary mixture of old 
usages with new ones," the intemperate speeches, the 
"injurious precautions," the bad advisers, the "savage 
manners and habits," etc. " It was hardly possible that 



XIII ESTABLISHING THE AMERICAN REGIME G07 

the government of the United States shoukl have a worse 
beginning. " Laussat considered Claiborne and Wilkin- 
son as bad men as could have been selected for the admin- 
istration of the affairs of the territory. Claiborne he 
characterizes as having "estimable qualities as a private 
man, but possessing little intellect, a good deal of awk- 
wardness, and being extremely beneath the position in 
which he had been placed." Wilkinson was described as 
a mere " rattle-headed fellow, full of odd fantasies." 
Probably the judgment of Claiborne was much too severe. 
He was ill-fitted for the post, it is true, but his long ex- 
perience as governor of Mississippi had given him such an 
acquaintance with southwestern life and conditions as was 
possessed by very few Americans at the time. Laussat's 
estimate of Wilkinson was, if anything, too mild. 

All in all, however, Laussat believed that, despite her 
bad beginning, the United States would yet win the at- 
tachment of the Louisianians. Only the continuance of a 
grossly blundering policy on the part of the Administration 
could long keep the hostility of the Creoles alive. "There 
are advantages inherent to the Constitution and to the 
situation of the United States, of which it is impossible to 
prevent these people from experiencing the salutary in- 
fluence." Laussat did not share the belief of some that 
in the event of Napoleon's triumph over England he would 
once more bring Louisiana under the tricolor by purchase 
or by conquest. Nevertheless, he did predict the eventual 
detaching of the territory from the Union, after it should 
have become well populated, and thought that France 
might then establish with it such commercial relations as 
would ap[)roximate to the old colonial system. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 

JUNE 1, 1804, there was held a mass-meeting at New 
Orleans, called by a number of influential merchants 
of the city and planters of the vicinity, for the purpose of 
taking steps to secure better terms from Congress than 
were contained in the Breckenridge Act of the j)revious 
March. In the meeting it was unanimously resolved to 
petition Congress to repeal those portions of the act 
which j)rovided for a division of the territory and placed 
restriction upon the importation of slaves. It was decided 
also to ask for the immediate admission of Louisiana, with 
its original boundaries, into the Union as a state. Two 
larger meetings in July heard and approved a committee's 
draft of a memorial to Congress on these subjects, and 
three men — Derbigny, Sauv^, and Destrehan, all French 
— were constituted a deputation to carry the petition to 
Washington. In late summer they set out upon their long 
journey. 

The day upon which Congress had decreed that the 
new territorial government should go into effect was 
October 1, 1804. The occasion was marred by the fact 
that four of the thirteen members of the legislative council 
appointed by the President flatly refused to serve. Some 

608 



CHAP. XIV OKLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA U09 

of the other appointees were awed into adopting a practi- 
cally similar course. It was not until December 4, and only 
after Claiborne had taken it upon himself to appoint sub- 
stitutes for the refractory four, that the legislative coun- 
cil was ready to begin its work. During the two months' 
session which ensued, attention was devoted mainly to th^ 
organization of a judicial system. The territory was 
divided into twelve counties, with an inferior court for 
each composed of one judge. Two orders that must have 
been puzzling and provoking to the non-English people 
of the territory were that all suits at law should be insti- 
tuted by a petition in the form of a bill in chancery, and 
that in the definition of crimes and the mode of prosecu- 
tion in criminal cases the common law of England should 
be strictly adhered to. A committee was appointed to 
prepare a civil and criminal code upon this basis. " Bills 
in chancery " and " common law " were Avholly foreign to 
anything the Louisianians had known hitherto in legal 
procedure, and when it was explained that common law 
was "unwritten law, drawing its binding force from 
immemorial usage and universal reception in England," 
it is small wonder that the bewildered inhabitants quickly 
suspected its adoption to be a mere subterfuge on the 
part of the United States authorities whereby to govern 
Louisiana by a purely arbitrary system. 

Both Casa Calvo and Morales, with their retinues of 
officials, continued to loiter at New Orleans. As early as 
August 28 Secretary Madison had written to Claiborne 
that the presence and conduct of the Spaniards justly 
excited attention, and that the day on which the new 
government was to go into efiPect (October 1) might well 
2b 



610 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

be made the occasion of giving the officers to understand 
that their immediate departure would be heartily approved 
by the United States. ^ Believing that the discontent 
which prevailed in the territory was augmented by the 
influence of these men, Claiborne very gladly acted on 
Madison's suggestion, October 9, and communicated to 
Casa Calvo the Administration's desire that such Span- 
iards as did not intend to become American citizens 
should not longer remain on American soil. ■ On the 
plea, however, that he expected shortly to be employed 
in defining the boundary line between the United States 
and Mexico, Casa Calvo refused to leave the territory. ^ 
The undoubted effect of his course in this particular was 
to strengthen the impression which prevailed among many 
of the inhabitants that Spain was planning a reacqui- 
sition of Louisiana. It was well known that the United 
States was extremely desirous of securing the Floridas 
— that indeed it was the Floridas, and not the terri- 
tory west of the Mississippi, that Monroe and Living- 
ston had been commissioned to purchase in 1803. It was 
also known that the only terms upon which the Spanish 
government would even consider the alienation of the 
Floridas was the retrocession of Louisiana by the United 
States.^ And it was confidently believed by many that 
just as soon as the war between Spain and England should 
be brought to a close, Spain and the United States would 
effect an exchange of the two territories. " So general 

1 Madison to Claiborne, August 28, 1804, Writings of James Madison, 
II. 203. 

- Claiborne to Madison, Executive Journal, I. 102. 
3 Claiborne to Madison, April 5, 1805, ihid.,i I. 120. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA Gil 

has been this impression," wrote Chiiborne to Madison, 
" that many citizens have been fearful of accepting any 
employment under the American government, or even 
manifesting a respect therefor, lest at a future time it 
might lessen them in the esteem of Spanish officers." ^ 

The Spanish forces in Pensacola and West Florida 
amounted to nine hundred effective men. Two hundred 
were stationed at Baton Rouge, about eighty at INIobile, 
and according to common report the number of troops in 
Texas had been considerably augmented. It was even 
believed by some that at a point distant only 240 miles 
from the mouth of the Sabine two thousand troops had 
been concentrated by the Spaniards in anticipation of a 
movement against Louisiana if diplomacy should fail.^ 
When called upon, April 19, 1805, to tell what he knew 
of the increase of the Spanish armaments, Casa Calvo 
declared that the increase was only apparent, the num- 
ber of troops at the points named being occasioned solely 
by concentration there preparatory to a withdrawal from 
the country. Still he expressed surprise at the desire of 
the United States to hold territory west of the INIissis- 
sippi, bringing forward the time-worn argument that a 
republican government could not endure throughout so 
large a realm. The net result of several conferences 
was only yet further to convince Claiborne that "the 
great object of the Spanish government will be to limit 
the possessions of the United States westwardly by the 
iVIississippi," and that until the result of Monroe's mis- 
sion to purchase the Floridas, of which we shall speak 

1 Claiborne to Madison, December 11, 1804, Executive Journal, I. 55. 

2 Claiborne to Madison, ibid., I. 118. 



612 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

presently, should be known, " the Louisianians will not 
consider their political destiny as fixed."! 

By the autumn of 1805 it had become understood at 
New Orleans that the effort of Monroe to buy the Floridas 
had been unsuccessful. Spain would entertain the idea 
of ceding the territory in question only on condition of 
the recovery of Louisiana. Although the closing of such 
a bargain was unthought of at Washington, the news of 
Spain's ultimatum naturally increased the belief among 
the Louisianians that before the passage of many months 
their country would again be brought under the flag of 
Castile. Casa Calvo, when appealed to for his opinion, 
declared that Don Pedro Cevallos, the Spanish minister 
of foreign affairs, had informed him definitely that the 
desire of the court of Spain was to make the Mississippi 
the boundary, and that their expectation was to obtain this 
object in due time. This confession did not come by 
way of surprise to Claiborne, but it certainly made him feel 
far from easy in his position. Little wonder that he wrote 
to Madison that, next to a final adjustment of limits with 
the Spanish government, he most desired to see every 
Spanish officer removed from the ceded territory. " There 
must certainly be a power existing, somewhere vested, to 
cause to be executed the clause in the treaty which directs 
the Spanish forces to be withdrawn within three months 
from the ceded territory ,2 and I should be pleased to have 

1 Claiborne to Madison, Executive Journal, I. 128. 

2 The clause of the treaty (the last of Article V.) to which Claiborne 
referred reads as follows, " The troops, whether of France or Spain, who 
may be there, sliall cease to occupy any military post from the time of 
taking possession, and shall be embarked as soon as possible, in the 
course of three months after the ratification of the treaty." Of course it 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 613 

it hinted to me that, in my character as commissioner or 
governor, 1 could, on this occasion, take, if necessary, 
compulsory measures." ^ 

While the conduct of the officers at New Orleans was 
extremely irritating and in plain violation of the spirit of 
the treaty of purchase, Spain was yet much further from 
cherishing aggressive ambitions in respect to Louisiana 
than Governor Claiborne thought. Of course the aliena- 
tion of the territory by Napoleon had been bitterly resented 
b}' the Spanish authorities, and there was at first a strong 
disposition to blame the United States for being a party 
to so fraudulent a bargain. Since the First Consul had 
not fulfilled the terms of his contract with Spain, argued 
the ministers, Louisiana had never been rightfully his to 
sell, and therefore properly belonged yet to Spain. Yrujo, 
the Spanish minister at Washington, made formal protest, 
September 4, 1803, against the cession. ^ However, war 
with England clearly precluded Spain from taking any 
steps to nullify Napoleon's sale, and the wiser counsel 
prevailed that Spain would better make the best of the 
situation and not endanger a war with the United States 
in the midst of her other troubles. In the course of 
some months, therefore. Minister Yrujo informed Secre- 
tary Madison that he had received orders to declare that 
his Catholic Majesty "had thought fit to renounce his 
opposition to the alienation of Louisiana made by France, 
notwithstanding the solid reasons on which it was founded, 

should be remembered that Spain was very far from being a party to this 
treaty. 

1 Claiborne to Madison, Executive Journal, I. 253. 

2 Yrujo to Madison, September 4, 1803, American State Papers, II. 509. 



614 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

thereby giving a new proof of his benevolence and friend- 
ship toward the United States." 

Due to this assurance, repeated frequently by Yrujo, 
the Administration did not worry greatly over alleged 
Spanish intrigues to regain Louisiana. There were many 
issues between Spain and the United States wliich the 
President and his Cabinet considered more pregnant with 
peril. The chief of these were the boundaries of the 
Louisiana territory, the injuries done to American com- 
merce jointly by the Spanish and French, and the owner- 
ship of the Floridas ; and these were the issues upon which 
Monroe and Pinckney, after the conclusion of the pur-- 
chase treaty with France, were commissioned to negotiate 
at Madrid. In his instructions to Monroe, Secretary 
Madison expressed the belief that, while certain impor- 
tant issues collateral with the Louisiana Purchase had 
lately arisen, there was nothing in the avowed sentiments 
or policy of Spain "to justify the inference that she wishes 
to be no longer at peace with us."^ Monroe was directed 
to proceed from London by way of Paris in order to ascer- 
tain the attitude of the French government upon the 
questions at issue. Numerous expressions from Napoleon 
and Talleyrand had already given strong indication that, 
with respect to Florida, the boundaries, and the claims, 
France would unhesitatingly take the part of Spain ; and 
of this Monroe quickly assured himself during his brief 
stay in Paris. 

The negotiations at Madrid, which were not begun 
until nearly a year after the American commissioners 

1 Madison's instructions, April 15, 1804, are in the American State 
Papers, II. 627-630. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 616 

were appointed, were from the outset extremely unsatis- 
factory. French influence was evidently at work, set- 
ting the Spanish more firmly against the American 
claims. Throughout the spring of 1805, Monroe and 
Pinckney continued to appeal for a fair, speedy, and 
conciliatory settlement of the matters in dispute, let- 
ting it be understood, however, that the United States 
was not "unprepared for or unequal to any crisis which 
may occur."! jyjj^y 12 they submitted to Cevallos an 
ultimatum to the effect that if Spain would cede the 
Floridas the United States would yield on her part "her 
claim to territory west of a line to be drawn from the 
mouth of the Colorado to its source, and from thence 
to the northern limits of Louisiana, in such a manner 
as to avoid the different rivers and their branches which 
empty into the Mississippi." It was offered also that 
the United States would establish a territory of thirty 
leagues on both sides of this line, which should " re- 
main forever unsettled," or of thirty leagues on her 
own side only, if Spain desired to extend her settlement 
to the Colorado. 2 This project cannot be said to have 
embodied much of a concession, except as to the territory 
in the region of the Columbia River, known as the 
Oregon country. The claims of the United States in 
that quarter, while disputed by both Spain and England, 

1 Very full records of the negotiation are in the American State Papers, 
II. (527-609. An excellent general account is in Adams, Ilisturtj of the 
United States, III. Ch. II. See also Gilnian, James Monroe. Cli. IV. ; 
McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III. Ch. XIV. ; and 
Charles C. Pinckney, Life of General Thomas Pinckney. 

2 Pinckney and Monroe to Cevallos, May 12, 1805, American State 
Papers, II. 065. 



616 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

were at least as good as those of the former nation, and 
the commissioners were now proposing to relinquish these 
claims just as they were on the point of being so materially 
strengthened by the explorations of Lewis and Clark. 

But the ultimatum failed. Cevallos replied on the 
15th that Spain saw no gain that could come to her by 
accepting the proposed terms, and that therefore the 
king had rejected them outright.^ Three days later, 
Monroe, whose duties as resident minister at London 
would not permit a longer stay at Madrid, asked for his 
passport, and on the 21st had his final audience with the 
king. On the 23rd he and Pinckney despatched a joint 
note to Secretary Madison, informing him of the failure 
of the negotiation. 2 The message which Jefferson sent 
to Congress, December 3, expressed the fear that war 
would be inevitable between the two nations, or that 
at least it would be necessary " to join in the unprofitable 
contest of trying which party can do the other most 
harm." 2 The year 1805 closed for the United States 
with a lowering horizon. 

Meanwhile there had been certain developments in the 
policy of the United States toward Louisiana. During 
the session of 1804-1805, Congress was absorbed more 
by the question of a government for Louisiana than by 
any other topic. In both Houses the debates were able 
and prolonged. It was understood that the temporary 
system which had gone into effect the past October was 

^ Cevallos to Monroe and Pinckney, May 16, 1805, American State 
Papers, II. 666. 

2 Monroe and Pinckney to Madison, May 23, 1805, ibid., II. 667. 

3 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I. 382. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 617 

to continue one year only. The great problem was as to 
the more permanent system to be substituted for it. On 
the 4th of January, 1805, the petition of the " Merchants, 
Planters, and Other Inliabitants of Louisiana " was read 
in the Senate. Coming directly from the people, it 
expressed unmistakably what they thought of their 
new national relations and what they desired for the 
improvement thereof. The idea which had been ad- 
vanced so often on the floor of Congress, that the Louisi- 
anians were unfit for freedom and self-government, was 
scouted by the petitioners, and it was sarcastically in- 
quired whether the authorities of the United States now 
considered them less capable politically tlian a year 
before, when by the treaty they had been promised in- 
corporation as soon as possible into the Union. The 
prohibition of the slave trade, the imposing upon the 
territory of an English, and therefore alien, judicial 
system, and partiality shown new settlers in the distri- 
bution of offices and favors, were all brought forward 
as grievances. But the main contention was for the 
early execution of the third article of the treaty. " The 
inhabitants of the ceded territory," asserted the petition, 
" are to be incorporated into the Union of the United 
States. . . . To be incorporated must mean to form a 
part of it. But to every component part of the United 
States the Constitution has guaranteed a republican 
form of government, and this,^ as we liave already 
shown, has no one principle of republicanism in its com- 
position. It is therefore not in compliance with the 
letter of the treaty, and is totally inconsistent with its 
1 That is, the existing system under the Act of March 20, 1804. 



618 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

spirit, which certainly intends some stipulations in our 
favor. For if Congress may govern us as they please, 
what necessity was there for this clause, or how are we 
to be benefited by its introduction ? If any doubt, 
however, could possibly exist on the first member of the 
sentence, it must vanish by a consideration of the second, 
which provides for our admission to the rights, privileges, 
and immunities of citizens of the United States. But 
this territorial government, as we have shown, is totally 
incompatible with those rights. Without any vote in 
the election of our legislature, without any check upon 
our executive, without any one incident of self-govern- 
ment, what valuable privilege of citizenship is allowed 
us ? What right do we enjoy, of what immunity can 
we boast, except, indeed, the degrading exemption from 
the cares of legislation and the burden of public affairs ? " 
With very good grace the members of Congress were 
called upon to prove true to "the principles of your 
Revolution, the sacred, self-evident, and eternal truths 
on which your governments are founded." ^ 

Three weeks after the presenting of this memorial John 
Randolph, chairman of the House committee on that 
portion of the President's message which dealt with 
Louisiana,^ and also on the Louisianians' petition, made a 

1 The text of the petition appears in an anonymous book, Louisiane, 
1804 « 1S07, in the Harvard College Library [see p. 571]. It is printed 
in the Annals of Congress (1804-1805), 1597-1608, and in part in Hart, 
American History Told by Contemporaries, III, 377-380. There are ex- 
tensive quotations from it in Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, IV. 58-64. 

2 In his message of November 8, 1804, the President had called the atten- 
tion of Congress to the advisability of ameliorating the territorial govern- 
ment of Louisiana. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 
371. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 619 

report in which it was held that only " under torture " 
could the third article of the treaty be construed to mean 
what the petitioners said it did.i Nevertheless, the com- 
mittee considered the Louisiana situation susceptible of 
radical improvement, and the report was supplemented by 
a resolution to the effect that " provisions ought to be made 
by law for extending to the inhabitants of Louisiana the 
right of self-government." The outcome of several weeks' 
debate upon the subject was tlie passage of an act, approved 
March 2, providing for the government of tlie Territory 
of Orleans by authorizing the President to establish a gov- 
ernment in all respects similar to that of the Mississippi 
territory, and in conformity with the ordinance of the 
Congress of the Confederation in 1787, except in respect 
to descent and distribution of estates and the prohibition 
of slavery. As soon as the free population of the terri- 
tory should reach sixty thousand the people were authorized 
to form a constitution and a state government, so as to l)e 
admitted into the Union upon the footing of the original 
states "in all respects whatever." Congress reserved the 
right in the meantime to modify boundaries, as seemed 
expedient. Listead of thirteen legislators appointed by 
the President, there were to be twenty-five, elected for a 
term of two years by the people. The upper house, or 
legislative council, was to be composed of five members 
chosen by the President and Senate out of ten nominees 
selected by the house of representatives of the territory. 
They were to serve a term of five years, but coukl be 
removed by the President at any time.'^ 

1 The report is printed in the Annnis of Congress (1804-1806), lOlo-lOlT. 

2 The text of the act is in the Annals of Comjress (1804-180.")), 1(>74-1070. 



620 THE OPENING 0*F THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

This system represented a great improvement over that 
then prevailing. Yet it was far from satisfactory to the 
people of the territory. April 21 Governor Claiborne 
wrote to Madison that the people had been " taught to 
expect greater j)rivileges, and many are disappointed." ^ 
He believed, however, that as great powers had been 
given them as they " could manage with discretion," and 
that "an early introduction of the entire representative 
system in Louisiana would be a hazardous experiment." 
Of course many of the grounds for discontent were not at 
all affected by this second measure for the settlement of 
Louisiana affairs. The restriction on slave importation 
was not removed, the operation of the English common 
law was in no wise limited, the arbitrary powers of the 
governor were but very slightly curtailed. Some reasons 
for complaint, as the introduction of the English lan- 
guage in the conduct of the government, were of such 
a nature that only a long lapse of time could take away 
their force. 

Throughout the year 1805 the presence of the Spanish 
officials in the territory was growing all the time more 
obnoxious. President Jefferson had, indeed, authorized 
Governor Claiborne to urge their final departure, but to 
do this in a manner which would not occasion undue 
offence was not so easy. Casa Calvo did not spend all 
his time at New Orleans, but made several tours through 
the surrounding country, ostensibly for the purpose of 
indulging his love of the chase and acquiring geograph- 
ical knowledge, though the United States authorities 
were convinced that his real object was to sound the 
^ Claiborne to Madison, Executive Journal, II. 145. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 621 

attachment of the planters to the new government. 
January 10, 1806, Governor Claiborne despatched a 
certain Captain Ross to intercept the marquis on liis 
travels and inform him that the President had directed 
him and all other persons remaining in the Spanish 
employ to leave the Territory of Orleans as soon as 
possible. " I repeat to your Excellency," declared the 
letter which Ross was instructed to place in Casa Calvo's 
hands, " that this is only a measure of precaution dictated 
by the circumstances of the times, and not intended as an 
act of offence toward your nation, or of rigor against your- 
self and the other gentlemen attached to the service of his 
Catholic Majesty." 1 The "circumstances of tlie times" 
referred to were the failure of Monroe's mission, the 
current rumors of a reestablishment of Spanish author- 
ity at New Orleans, the reenforcements lately arrived at 
Pensacola, and the reported increase of Spanish forces on 
the western frontier. 

The next day a similar communication was sent to the 
ex-intendant, Morales, who was then at New Orleans, and 
who bitterly resented the governor's action. He declared 
that he was tarrying on business connected with the clos- 
ing of his former administration — that he was expecting 
from the viceroy of Mexico the sum of 1400,000, with 
which he was to pay debts of the Spanish govern- 
ment to certain citizens of the territory, and that 
these payments could be made only througli him per- 
sonally. Claiborne at once spoiled the force of this 
plea by promising to send him a passport as soon as the 
money should arrive. On the 25th of January Morales 
1 Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, IV. 128. 



622 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

was told flatly that his departure would be expected before 
the end of the month. Left without argument or re- 
source, the ex-intendant started for Pensacola February 1. 
Three days later Casa Calvo appeared at New Orleans, 
despite the fact that Major Porter, in command of the dis- 
trict of Natchitoches, had been authorized to use force if 
necessary to prevent his coming again to the city.^ Feb- 
ruary 6 Claiborne politely but forcibly informed the Span- 
iard that his departure must not be delayed beyond a few 
days. Remonstrances and arguments proved of no avail. 
While expressing regard for the comfort and welfare of 
Calvo and his followers, Claiborne made it very clear that 
the President had given his orders, and that they were 
expected to be obeyed. To Calvo's retort that he looked 
upon the government's treatment of him as "a shameful 
act of violence " and an insult to the king, his master, 
Claiborne replied, " On the contrary, the residence of 
so many Spanish officers in this territory having been 
permitted by the President so long beyond the time pre- 
scribed by the treaty for their departure, is a proof of his 
respect for his Catholic Majesty, and of his liberal' indul- 
gence toward those employed in his service ; an indul- 
gence which, I am sorry to perceive, is not sufficiently 
appreciated by all who experience it." As in the case of 
Morales, a definite date — February 15 — was set, on or 
before which Casa Calvo would be expected to depart. 
February 12 the marquis received a passport from the 
governor, who took occasion to express " his best wishes 
for the health and happiness of the nobleman whose pres- 
ence has become so unacceptable." Full of wrath and 
^ Executive Journal, 11. 40. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 623 

resentment, the haughty Spaniard waited until his last 
da}' of grace and then set out upon the road to Pensacola. 
The dismissal of Morales and Casa Calvo, while entirely 
justifiable and in the end proved to have been clearly the 
wise course, for a time produced effects which threatened 
to culminate in open w^ar. The hostility of the Spaniards 
toward the Americans became doubl}^ manifest. On the 
15th of March Claiborne was informed by Governor Folch, 
of Florida, that thereafter no mail of the United States 
Avould be allowed to pass by land or water through his 
territory. It was reported on good authority that the 
Spanish fortifications at Mobile w'ere undergoing repairs, 
and that Spanish agents were circulating among the vari- 
ous Choctaw nations with the purpose of securing their 
alliance in event of a war against the United States. 
The navigation of the Alabama and Tombigbee was pro- 
hibited to the Americans resident in the upper valleys of 
these rivers, and the situation there became quite analo- 
gous to that prevailing on the Mississippi during the time 
of the Spanish closure. It was so critical, indeed, that 
Claiborne wrote to Secretary Madison that in his opinion, 
unless the free navigation of those rivers and the right of 
deposit at Mobile should be restored within six months, 
the settlements on the rivers Avould be ruined, perhaps 
abandoned. Claiborne believed that not fewer than 
twelve hundred troops should be maintained in the terri- 
tory. "The presence of such a force," he urged, "would 
not only deter the Spanish agents in our vicinity from 
venturing on acts which are calculated to irritate, but, 
what is infinitely of more importance, it w^ould give our 
new fellow-citizens a confidence in the American govern- 



624 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

ment which, I am sorry to say, many of them, at this time, 
do not possess. . . . The native Americans declare that 
the government neglects them, and the ancient Loiiisiani- 
ans, seeing no military preparations, are impressed with 
an opinion that the United States are either unable, or 
unwilling, to contend with the power of Spain." ^ 

As a matter of fact, the Spanish government was very 
far from contemplating a war with the United States. 
Already Spain was involved in a joint war with France 
against England, and all her failing energies were required 
for the exigencies of that great contest. Her attitude 
toward the United States during the years following the 
purchase of Louisiana was certainly irritating in the ex- 
treme, but there is no reason to believe that the high- 
handed conduct of her agents in America was expressly 
authorized by the government. A more efficient and 
scrupulous government would not have permitted such 
acts as those of Morales and Casa Calvo, but at the most 
Spain's offence was of a negative rather than a. positive 
character. After the first impulsive outbreak at Napo- 
leon's perfidy, the king and ministry had quickly come 
to their senses and agreed to recognize the purchase of 
Louisiana by the United States as binding and permanent. 
Byjihe Administration at Washington it was thought that 
war was not probable as long as Spain should be engaged 
in the great Napoleonic conflict. According to this view, 
it would be only by some decided turn in the European 
struggle, whereby Spain would be left free to pursue her 
ends in America, that immediate danger could be created. 
As we know now, the progress of that struggle within a 

1 Claiborne to Madison, March 27, 1806, Executive Journal, II. 104, 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 025 

very few years had reduced Spain to such a position of 
national humiliation that independent action was for a long 
time out of the question. By the time that Spain, after 
the final banishment of Napoleon from European politics 
was once more a sovereign nation, a score of circumstances 
rendered the reacquisition of Louisiana well-nigh un- 
thinkable. The inhabitants of the territory had in the 
meantime become loyally attached to the United States, 
Spain's American colonies were engaged in a wholesale 
revolt with every prospect of eventual success, Spain had 
been reduced by wars, extravagance, and non-productive- 
ness to the position of a third-rate power, while the 
United States had been steadily waxing greater in all 
the qualities that were needed to make her formidable*. 
But of course, within Governor Claiborne's limited range 
of vision in the early years of his administration at New 
Orleans, these things could not in any wise be foreseen ; 
and it need occasion no surprise, therefore, that during 
the long interval which witnessed the gradual American- 
izing of the Louisianians, he, and others with him, took 
frequent alarm at the high-handed measures by which the 
Spanish agents were accustomed to keep a war cloud 
always peering above the horizon. 

Durinsr the first decade of their territorial existence, 
Louisiana and Orleans were tln-eatened with disruption 
through the machinations, not only of resentful Spanish 
officials, but also of disaffected Americans. The most 
remarkable of tliese attempts to sever the INIississippi 
Valley from the nation with which it had become politi- 
cally identified was that instituted by the man who had 
failed by but one electoral vote of succeeding Jolm Adams 
2a 



620 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

in the Presidency — Aaron Burr.^ As early as 1804, 
while yet Vice-President, Burr had begun his treasonable 
career by communicating to Anthony Merry, the British 
minister at Washington, a scheme for the separation of 
the country west of the AUeghanies from the United 
States and the erection of it into an independent nation. 
The precise nature of Burr's plans has never been clearly 
ascertained. Probably he himself had not projected his 
scheme very far into the future. But he realized that his 
political career in the East was ended, that the better 
class of men believed him bankrupt in both private and 
public character and would no longer trust or tolerate 
him, and that the West afforded the only remaining field 
for the gratification of his inordinate ambitions. Because 
of the misunderstandings which were making the sojourn 
of Merry at Washington uncomfortable no less for himself 
than for the Administration, Burr evidently expected to 
be able to secure the concurrence of the English govern- 
ment in his plans, and perhaps even its open support. 
Merry, being much disgruntled with the President and 
Cabinet, listened quite willingly to Burr's proposals — so 

1 Original materials for the study of the Burr conspiracy are : James 
Wilkinson, Memoirs of my Own Time, Vol. II. ; John Marshall, Writings, 
33-111 ; Matthew L. Davis, Memoirs of Aaron Burr, II. Chs. XVIII.- 
XIX. ; W. H. Safford, The Blennerhassett Papers ; Thomas Jefferson, 
Writings (Washington's ed.). Vols. IV.-V. passim; the American State 
Papers, Miscellaneous, Vol. I. ; and the Annals of Congress, Appendices 
to Vols. XVI. and XVII. Among general accounts may be mentioned 
Adams, History of the United States, III. Chs. IX.-XIV. and XIX. 
McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III. Ch. XV. 
Morse, Thomas Jefferson, Ch. XVI.; Magruder, John Marshall, Ch. XL 
W. H. Safford, Life of Herman Blennerhassett ; James Parton, Life of 
Aaron Burr; AValter F. McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy; and 
Sumner, Andrew Jackson, Ch. I. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA G27 

much SO that the conspirator was induced to promise "to 
lend his assistance to his Majesty's govenunent in any 
manner in which they may think fit to employ him, par- 
ticularly in endeavoring to effect a separation of the 
w^estern part of the United States from that which lies 
between the Atlantic and the mountains, in its whole 
extent." ^ Colonel Williamson, a British army officer, was 
enlisted in Burr's service, and despatched to London to lay 
all the details of the plan before the ministry and receive 
its answer. 

Burr was well informed as to the disaffection which 
existed in Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans, and 
represented to the British that the detachment of that 
region from the United States would meet with no oppo- 
sition from the Creoles. He had ascertained this from 
several sources, but chiefly from Sauve, Derbigny, and 
Destrehan, the deputies who had borne the Louisiana 
petition to Washington in the latter part of 1804, and 
who had been introduced to the then Vice-President by 
General Wilkinson. "Mr. Burr," wrote INIerry to the 
British foreign secretary in March, 1805, "has mentioned 
to me that the inhabitants of Louisiana seem determined to 
render themselves independent of the United States, and 
that tlie execution of their design is only delayed by the 
difficulty of obtaining previously an assurance of protection 
and assistance from some foreign power, and of concerting 
and connecting their independence with that of the inhab- 
itants of the western part of the United States, who must 
always have a command over them by the rivers whicli com- 

1 Merry to Harrowby, August 6, 1804, Mas. British Archives. Quoted 
in Adams, History of the United States, II. 305. 



628 THE OPENING OP THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

municate with the Mississippi. It is clear that Mr. Burr 
means to endeavor to be the instrument of effecting such 
a connection."! The aid for which Burr asked the Brit- 
ish government was a fleet to be despatched to the mouth 
of the Mississippi, and a loan of <|500,000 with which to 
pay soldiers and put the new state in running order. 
Merry was cognizant of Burr's dubious reputation, but 
was yet constrained to write, " I have only to add that if 
a strict confidence be placed in him, he certainly possesses, 
perhaps in a much greater degree than any other indi- 
vidual in this country, all the talents, energy, intrepidity, 
and firmness which are required for such an enterprise." 
It was part of the plan that while the project was being 
considered by the British ministry Burr should make a 
visit to New Orleans and identify himself effectively with 
the dissatisfied Creole population. Leaving Philadelphia 
in April, 1805, the would-be empire builder set out on his 
long journey down the Ohio and the lower Mississippi, 
during the course of which a detour was made to Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, and Andrew Jackson added to the 
rapidly growing list of influential men who were more 
or less in sympathy with Burr's western scheme. June 6, 
General Wilkinson, now governor of Louisiana with head- 
quarters at St. Louis,^ and the lifelong friend and admirer 
of Burr, was encountered at Fort Massac — a military 

1 Merry to Harrowby, March 29, 1805, Mss. British Archives. Quoted 
in Adams, History of the United States, II. 403. 

^ It will be remembered that Louisiana was now jDroperly the region 
north of the Territory of Orleans, though the arrangement stood but for a 
few years, and we may apply the term " Louisianians " rather loosely (as 
we have done in the present chapter) to all the people under the flag of the 
United States west of the Mississippi. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA G29 

post on the north bank of the Ohio, a few miles above its 
junction with the Mississippi. After a four days' confer- 
ence Wilkinson retraced his course to St. Louis, while 
Burr, provided with letters of introduction, especially 
to Daniel Clark, the richest and most prominent Ameri- 
can in New Orleans, continued on his way toward the 
Gulf. On the evening of the 25tli of June the Creoles, 
gathered for amusement as was their custom at the New 
Orleans levee, were rewarded with the sight of -in unusual 
spectacle. An elegant ten-oared barge, resplendent with 
colors and sails, swept proudly round the bend in the river 
and drew up at the landing. It was the vessel wliidi 
Wilkinson had presented to Burr, that he might create 
as favorable an impression as possible when he appeared at 
the Creole city. When the wondering natives learned that 
the handsome and distinguished gentleman who stepped 
from the boat was an ex- Vice-President of the United 
States, they lost no time in rendering him every possible 
service, for he was by far the most notable personage who 
had deigned to visit New Orleans since the transfer from 
France. One of his older biographers writes that Burr 
was received everywhere in the city as a great man, and 
was "invited by Governor Claiborne to a grand dinner, 
given to him, and which was attended by as distinguished 
a company as New Orleans could assemble."^ Neverthe- 
less, it appears that the visitor spent most of his time with 
the enemies of Claiborne and of the Spaniards. During 
the two weeks he remained in the city he took so little 
care to keep his machinations secret tliat his plan of dis- 
union came to be well understood publicly. "The tale 
1 Pai-ton, Lifi! of Burr [New Yuik, 1858], 393. 



630 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI cuap. 

is a horrid one," wrote Clark, in a disapproving letter to 
Wilkinson. " Kentucky, Tennessee, the state of Ohio, 
tlie four territories on the Mississippi and Ohio, with part 
of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed with the plunder 
of the Spanish countries west of us to separate from the 
Union." ^ Even before Burr's departure, July 14, the 
project had become well known to the Spanish population 
of the territory, who, though not yet reconciled to the 
rule of the United States, were nevertheless slow to sanc- 
tion an enterprise which would rob Spain of still more of 
her declining American empire. And the agents of the 
Spanish government in West Florida and Texas, when 
apprised of tlie plan, were fairly furious. The Creoles, 
however, were stirred to no little enthusiasm by the 
prospect of independence. 

Having accomplished as much as he had expected on 
this preliminary trip. Burr returned to the East in the 
fall of 1805, again visiting Andrew Jackson and Gov- 
ernor Wilkinson on the way. In the meantime the latter 
had met with repeated failure in his efforts to seduce the 
people of his territory into the plot. Although in later 
years Wilkinson took a solemn oath that he had never 
been a party to Burr's disunion scheme, the evidence of 
his conduct is all against him, and it appears that he 
grew cold in the cause only when he came to believe 
that it was doomed to certain failure. Burr returned 
to Washington late in 1805, only after some weeks to 
have his hope of British aid dashed. The ministry had 

1 Daniel Clark to William Wilkinson, September 7, 1805, Wilkinson's 
Memoirs, II. Appendix. Quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 
III. 224. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA G;]l 

at first been inclined to loolv with favor upon the proj- 
ect, but Pitt liad finally decided that the foreign olhce 
had too much business of greater importance to attend 
to. Through ]Merry, Burr endeavored to frighten tlie 
prime minister into compliance with his schemes by 
representing that unless England should give the desired 
aid he and his associates would, " though very reluctantl3% 
be under the necessity of addressing themselves to the 
French and Spanish governments then at war with Eng- 
land." He added, however, reported Merry, that "the 
disposition of the inhabitants of the western country, 
and particularly Louisiana, to separate themselves from 
the American Union Avas so strong that the attempt 
might be made with every prospect of success without 
any foreign assistance whatever ; and his last words to 
me were that with or without support, it certainly would 
he made very shortly," 

That there was a strong disposition among the people 
of the Territory of Orleans to throw off the recently 
established sovereignty of the United States admits of 
no question. The feeling was even as strong as Hurr 
represented it, though the disaffection among the popu- 
lation of Kentuck}', Tennessee, and other regions east 
of the Mississippi was much exaggerated. "Mr. Burr 
stated to me — " wrote Merry to liis government, "what 
I have reason to believe to be true from the information 
I have received from other quarters — that when he 
reached Louisiana he found the inhabitants so impatient 
under the American government that they had actually 
prepared a representation of their grievances, and that 
it was in agitation to send (U'puties witli it to l*aris. 



632 THE OPENING QF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

The hope, however, of becoming completely independent, 
and of forming a much more beneficial connection with 
Great Britain, having been pointed out to them, and 
this having already prevailed among many of the prin- 
cipal people who are to become his associates, they had 
found means to obtain a suspension of the plan of having 
recourse to France." Nevertheless, Burr well understood 
that the support of the Creoles was entirely dependent 
upon his success in winning the English ministry to his 
scheme ; and when this failed he was in sore straits. 

It may be that had Burr been able to postpone a while 
the execution of his plans the English ministry would 
in time have found itself in a position to help him. 
Relations between England and the United States were 
growing all the time more strained, and in less than a 
decade the two nations were destined to be plunged a 
second time in war with each other. But the conspiracy 
had gone so far that it could not be delayed with any 
hope of ultimate success. Mainly through Burr's own 
indiscretion, its existence had come to be known through- 
out the country, and even to the Administration at Wash- 
ington, and the blow must be struck quickly if at all. 
Despairing of support from the English, Burr made bold 
to approach the Spanish minister. Marquis Yrujo, with 
a proposal that Spain take up the work of thrusting 
back the bounds of the United States to the Alleghanies. 
Just to what extent Spain was to profit territorially by 
the adoption of such a course does not appear. But 
Yrujo, like Merry, was quarrelling with the President 
and Cabinet, and it did not seem unreasonable to 
expect him to give his support to almost any project 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE ^'E^V LOUISIANA (533 

that would cause the Administration trouble. Ex-Senator 
Dayton, of New Jersey, one of Burr's leading fellow-con- 
spirators, was chosen to interview Yrujo on the subject. 
By artfully relating the overtures that had been made 
to the British, Dayton endeavored ta arouse the Span- 
iard's jealousy and lead him to commit himself to rec- 
ommend to his government that aid be extended to 
Burr. Failing in this, Dayton then proceeded to threaten 
that, if the movement went on without Spanish coiipera- 
tion, both the Floridas would be seized and added to 
the new nation, and perhaps also Mexico. But Yrujo 
knew even better than Merry the essential weakness of 
Burr's cause, and while he pretended to be much inter- 
ested and went so far as to contribute a few thousand 
dollars, he was wary of making promises, and even Burr 
himself in a personal visit was able to accomplish noth- 
ing. Yrujo, who was as keen a diplomat as Washington 
then contained, could not be blinded to the fact that 
England had refused aid and that the threats of Dayton 
and Burr were devoid of any real menace to Spain. He 
chose to hold aloof from the project, not out of regard 
for the United States or for his dignity as an accredited 
minister from a foreign power, but simply because he had 
no confidence in the success of the disunion scheme. 

After this failure Burr had all he could do to keep tb.' 
conspiracy alive. He advanced with startling boldness 
from one fantastic plot to another, even going so far as to 
plan the seizure of the higher ofhcials at Washington, the 
destruction of the national vessels in the navy-yard, and 
the confiscation of the public moneys in the Washing- 
ton and Georgetown banks, all in order to paralyze the 



G34 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

opposition of the government and secure the emancipation 
of Louisiana and the western states. President Jefferson, 
who was already distracted with the numerous feuds and 
quarrels which rent the official circles of the nation, pro- 
ceeded on the theory that the people could be trusted in 
the end to defeat Burr's intrigues, and gave little heed — 
none at all officially — to the conspiracy. Burr was en- 
couraged by this to believe that the President was afraid 
of him and took the less pains to throw the veil of secrecy 
over his conduct. Knowing that an indictment hung 
over his head in New York, and that his only possible 
chance for power and influence in the future lay in the 
realization of his western schemes, he threw himself with 
sheer desperation into a cause which his better judgment 
must already have told him was irrevocably lost. With- 
out foreign aid, the people of the West could not be per- 
suaded to raise the standard of rebellion ; and by the 
spring of 1806 all hope of such aid was withered. 

Not the least important of the many reasons for the 
failure of the conspiracy was the uncompromising loyalty 
of western leaders like Jackson and Clay, who, though 
they fell for a time under the spell of Burr's winning per- 
sonality, recoiled most forcibly from the scheme of sever- 
ing the western country from the United States. Because 
of Burr's former high position in the nation, Governor 
Claiborne had at first received him with every mark of 
respect and deference ; but Claiborne was far too honest 
and loyal an official to be drawn into any sort of plot 
against his country, and as soon as he came to under- 
stand Burr's direful purposes he became utterly cold and 
unsympathetic. Even Wilkinson, forseeing the end, played 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 035 

the traitor to liis friend by writing to President Jefferson 
a detailed account of tlie plot, with a scathing denunciation 
of its author, and eventually appearing as leading witness 
against the accused when he was brought to trial. Wil- 
kinson, commander-in-chief of the United States army 
though he now was, was a pensioner of Don Carlos IV., 
receiving 82000 a year for services of a secret character, 
and had from the outset been averse to Burr's scheme 
for the dismemberment of Spain's territorial possessions in 
North America. "• Wilkinson," wrote Yrujo to Cevallos, 
" is entirely devoted to us. He enjoys a considerable 
pension from the king. With his natural capacity and 
his local and military knowledge, he anticipated with 
moral certainty the failure of an expedition of this nature 
[against the Spanish Southwest, as Burr had planned]. 
Doubtless he foresaw from the first that the improb- 
ability of success in case of making the attem^jt would 
leave him like the dog in the fable with the piece of 
meat in his moutli ; that is, that he would lose the honor- 
able employment he holds and the generous pension he en- 
joys from the king. These considerations, secret in their 
nature, he could not explain to Burr ; and when the latter 
persisted in an idea so fatal to Wilkinson's interests, noth- 
ing remained but to take the course adopted. By this 
means he assures his pension ; and will allege his conduct 
on this occasion as extraordinary service, cither for getting 
it increased, or for some generous comi)ensation. ( )n tlie 
other hand, this proceeding secures his distinguished rank 
in the military service of the United States, and covers 
him with a popularity which may perhaps result in pecun- 
iary advantages, and in any case will flatter his vanify. 



G.SO THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

In such an alternative he has acted as was to be expected ; 
that is, he has sacrificed Burr in order to obtain, on the 
ruins of Burr's reputation, the advantages 1 liave pointed 
out." ^ The defection of Wilkinson was a severe blow to 
the conspirac}^ and hastened not a little its inevitable end. 

Twice during the latter part of 1806 was Burr arrested 
on a charge of treason, but soon released because of lack 
of evidence. Kentucky's rising young lawyer, Henry 
Cla}', served as his counsel, though only after exacting 
from him an oath of loyalty. With a small band of 
adherents the arch-conspirator, now a refugee, once more 
made his way down the Mississippi as far as Natchez. 
Deeming it unsafe to proceed farther in that direction, 
he abandoned the boats with which the Irishman Blenner- 
hassett had equipped him and set off toward the east. In 
a short time he was captured, and the whole movement 
was at an end. 

The trial which followed at Richmond, presided over b}^ 
the great Chief Justice Marshall, was one of tlie most 
notable in the histor}^ of the country. Despite the fact 
that Burr's long-continued treasonable conduct was the 
commonplace of popular report, the verdict of the jury 
was "Not guilty." The court held that no course was 
left open to it but that of acquittal, since the evidence 
introduced was " in its nature merely corroborative and 
incompetent to prove the overt act of treason in itself," 
and proof of the overt act by two witnesses was not forth- 
coming. The dismissal of the case in this manner was 
far from satisfactory to the large number of people, in- 

1 Yrujo to Cevallos, January 28, 1807, Mss. Spanish Archives. Quoted 
in Adams, History of United States, III. 342-343. 



I 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 6;]7 

eluding the President, who believed Buit unquestionably 
guilty, and who hoped that his punishment would long 
stand as an object-lesson to the unscrupulous and over- 
ambitious politicians of the country. But perhaps the 
ignominy and oblivion into which the conspirator now 
passed constituted punishment as heavy as could be con- 
ceived in the case of a man of Burr's aspiring tempera- 
ment. It is only to be regretted that Wilkinson, who in 
spirit at least was as great a sinner as the man he be- 
trayed, was allowed to remain at the head of the army of 
the United States until overwhelmed by successive fail- 
ures and misdeeds during the War of 1812. 

In the meantime the Florida question was nearing a 
partial solution. In order to make clear the way in which 
this was coming about, it is necessary briefly to review the 
cardinal facts of the boundary controversy and the vexed 
problem as to whether West Florida was riglitly to be 
considered a part of the Louisiana Purchase. When 
Monroe and Livingston, in 1803, affixed their signatures 
to the treaty by which Louisiana was ceded to the 
United States, they were extremely happy at the out- 
come of their negotiations, and yet they realized keenly 
that they had not executed their explicit instructions 
to purchase the Floridas. As soon as the treaty was 
sififned Livinarston befjan to cast about for some means 
of making it appear that the commissioners had fulfilled 
their orders, even if they had greatly exceeded them. 
By conjuring mysteriously with the diplomatic records 
at Paris he finally succeeded in accomplishing the 
desired object. Tlie startling theory which he evolved 
was tliat by the treaty of San Il.lcfonso France had 



638 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

acquired the ownership of Florida west of the Perdido 
River without knowing it, and three years later had 
ceded it, equally unwittingly, to the United States. 
No one knew better than Livingston that Spain had 
by no means intended that the status of West Florida 
should be affected in the least by the retrocession of 
1800, but on examining the words of the /treaty he 
found them capable, as he thought, of an ambiguous 
interpretation. Louisiana had been retroceded " with 
the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, 
and that it had when France possessed it, and such 
as it should be according to the treaties subsequently 
entered into between Spain and other States." When 
France possessed Louisiana prior to 1763, argued Living- 
ston, it undeniably included West Florida. At the time 
of the retrocession of 1800 the territory in question was 
clearly in Spain's possession. What reason was there for 
alleging that it was not yet a part of Louisiana ? And if 
it was such a part, it must have been ceded by Spain to 
France and subsequently by France to the United States. 
Livingston quickly brought Monroe to this opinion and 
together they wrote to Secretary Madison, " We consider 
ourselves so strongly founded in this conclusion, that we 
are of opinion the United States should act on it in all the 
measures relative to Louisiana in the same manner as if 
West Florida was comprised within the island of New 
Orleans, or lay to the west of the river Iberville." ^ 

1 Livingston and Monroe to Madison, June 7, 1803, American State 
Papers, II. 5G4. For an excellent discussion of this subject, see Henry 
E. Chambers, "West Florida and the Historical Cartography of the 
United States," in the Johns Hnpkins University Studies in Historical 
and Political Science, 16th Series, 239-252. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA (5:)!» 

There could be no doubt iu the mind of any one 
that if West Florida had really been possessed by 
France in 1803 as a part of Louisiana, the title to it was 
now vested solely in the United States. For there liad 
been absolutely no intelligible limitations placed upon the 
territory ceded, other than that it should include only 
Avhat had been previously known as Louisiana. The crux 
of the matter lay in the question as to whether West 
Florida had become a French possession by the treaty 
of retrocession in 1800. Livingston and Monroe said that 
it had ; that Spain had owned it in 1800 ; that it had once 
been a part of Louisiana ; that Spain retroceded the whole 
of Louisiana in 1800 ; that therefore she ceded West 
Florida. The flaw in the argument consisted in the fact 
that the treaty of 1800 was one purely of retrocession, by 
which Spain clearly intended to give back to France 
precisely what France had given her in 1762 — nothing 
more or less. Spain did not acquire West Florida in 
1762. The territory which was organized the following 
year into a province under that name was ceded by 
France instead to England, and held by that power for 
twenty years. It must thus be evident that Spain could 
not have receded it to France in 1800. 

If President Jefferson had acted on Livingston's ad- 
vice, he would have thrown to the winds all further 
attempt to negotiate for West Florida and procccdi-d to 
assume possession as if the question of ownership was no 
longer an open one. Even Livingston admitted that sucli 
a course would very probably mean war with Spain, but 
he did not consider that a contiugency to be fraretl. 
Monroe supported this view, and the greater weight of 



640 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

his judgment inclined the President pretty strongly for 
a time toward an acceptance of the course which Living- 
ston had marked out. But though he most ardently 
desired the annexation of West Florida and believed this 
the only desirable solution of the perennial strife with 
Spain on the Gulf, Jefferson was just as loath to com- 
mit the country to a war with Don Carlos as he had 
been to precipitate a conflict with Napoleon. He there- 
fore chose rather the slower method of diplomacy. " We 
have some claims," he wrote to John C. Breckenridge in 
August, 1803, "to go eastwardly to the Rio Perdido, 
between Mobile and Pensacola, the ancient boundary of 
Louisiana. These claims will be a subject of negotia- 
tion with Spain ; and if as soon as she is at war we push 
them strongly with one hand, holding out a price with 
the other, we shall certainly obtain the Floridas, and all 
in good time.''^ Whereas Livingston and Monroe were 
urging the President to seize West Florida and negotiate 
for East Florida, his policy was rather to negotiate for 
West Florida and for the present let East Florida strictly 
alone. Pinckney, the United States minister at INIadrid, 
was informed by Secretary INIadison that the Floridas 
were not to be considered as certainly included in the 
Louisiana Purchase, "being, it appears, still held by 
Spain." Nevertheless, he was instructed to make dili- 
gent inquiry concerning the actual status of the territo- 
ries. The President was at first not greatly impressed 
with Livingston's theory ; but as the summer of 1803 
went on he came to consider it well founded, and as early 

1 Jefferson to Breckenridge, August 12, 1803, Jefferson's Worls 
(Washington's ed.), IV. lOS. 



XIV OKLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 041 

as August 25th of that j-ear he dechired himself " satis- 
fied our right to the Perdido is substantial, and can be 
opposed by a quibble on form only.^ This conviction, 
however, did not shake his desire for continued peace. 
His plan was to push the claim through diplomatic chan- 
nels as vigorously as was safe, awaiting the outbreak of 
war between Spain and England to insure success. 

Though Jefferson did not approve of Monroe's policy 
of forcing an immediate contest with Spain, he yet had 
implicit confidence in his special envoy, and, as we have 
seen, directed him very soon after the conclusion of the 
Louisiana Purchase, to proceed from Paris to Madrid to 
supplant Pinckney in the conduct of the contemplated 
negotiation for the Floridas. Pinckney had incurred the 
wrath of Cevallos, the Spanish foreign minister, and had 
been recalled at the request of the Spanish government, 
thousfh the recall was not to take effect until some time 
after. Being informed of the anger of the officials at 
Madrid at Napoleon's sale of Louisiana to the United 
States, ]\Ionroe tarried at Paris for the storm to blow 
over. While thus waiting he received the unexpected 
commission of minister plenipotentiary to England in 
place of Rufus King, who had resigned and gone liome. 
In July, 1803, he reached London; but before he had 
been allowed to work a month on the impressment ques- 
tion he was ordered once more to Spain as a special envoy 
to aid Pinckney in negotiating for the Floridas. The 
character and outcome of the labors of the two agents 
during the two years which followed have already been 

I Jefferson to Madison, August 2".. 1803. JeffiTSon's Works (Wash- 
ington's ed.), IV. 50:!. 



642 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

related. On the Florida question they had been instructed 
to do two things : persuade Spain to acknowledge the 
Perdido as the eastern boundary of Louisiana, and buy for 
12,000,000 the rest of her possessions east of the Perdido. ^ 
On both these points the negotiations failed absolutely, 
with the result that President Jefferson was brought for 
the first time in this controversy to the very verge of 
recommending an immediate declaration of war against 
Spain and the organizing of expeditions to drive the 
Spaniard out of both Texas and the Floridas. Letters 
which came from Governor Claiborne and General Wil- 
kinson, however, told of the strengthening of the Spanish 
defences on the Gulf, the reenforcement of the Spanish 
garrisons, and the difficulties, growing greater daily, of 
wresting from Spain any of the territory in dispute. Con- 
sequently the President fell back upon the old plan of 
negotiation. With consummate craft he contrived to get 
from Congress an appropriation of the two millions which 
he thought would suffice eventually to secure both the 
Floridas, though only after precipitating a quarrel with 
John Randolph, who led in opposing the appropriation. 
The bill was signed February 13, 1806. ^ But the appro- 
priation was really useless, as Spain persistently refused 
either to recognize that the United States had any rights 
in West Florida or to alienate by sale or cession any of 
the territory which remained under the flag of Castile. 

Thus matters stood until the invasion of Spain by 
Napoleon in 1807-1808, and the consequent fall of the 
Spanish monarchy. The establishment of Jose^^h Bona- 

1 Madison to Monroe, April 15, 1804, American State Papers, II. G27. 

2 Annals of Congress (1805-1806), 1226, 1227. 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA C4;J 

parte on the throne of Don Carlos, in the hitter year, was 
the signal for a general revolt of the Spanish-American 
colonies. The people of Buenos Ayres rose in rebellion 
and drove out the viceroy appointed by the Supreme 
Junta of Spain. In a few months the provinces of W'ne- 
zuela, New Granada, and Mexico were aflame wdth revo- 
lution. Erelong the movement spread to West Florida, 
where it first manifested itself in the district of New 
Feliciana, lying along the JNIississippi just across the 
American boundary line of 31°. This district contained 
a conglomerate population of Englishmen, Spaniards, and 
renegade Americans, who observed the confusion pervad- 
ing the Spanish dominions, and considered the occasion 
opportune to throw off the galling yoke of the Bourbon, 
and establish a government more to their liking.^ The 
leading spirits of the district issued a call for a conven- 
tion of delegates from all parts of West Florida, and 
themselves chose four representatives. Three other dis- 
tricts responded, and the royal governor, Don Carlos 
Dehault Delassus, gave his consent to the meeting. The 
convention assembled at St. John's Plains in the latter 
part of July, 1810. As soon as deliberations had begun 
it appeared that there was much division of opinion as 
to the best course to pursue. The delegates from New 
Feliciana favored the establishment of an independent 
government. Others favored continued resistance to the 

1 H. L. Favrot, "Some Account of the Causes that brought about the 
West Florida Kevolution," in the Louisiana Historical Society Piihlica- 
tions, Part II., and II. E. Chambers, " West Florida and its Relation to the 
Historical Cartography of the United States," in the .Tahna Hopkins Uni- 
versity Studies in Historical and Political Science, 10th Series, No. V. 



644 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

sovereignty of JosepH Bonaparte, but fidelity to the lately 
deposed king, Ferdinand VII. The majority of the dele- 
gates, and a much greater majority of the people at large, 
were for annexation to the United States. This latter 
party was vigorously supported by public opinion and 
the press of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Southwest 
generally. In these quarters it was believed that if the 
United States did not take West Florida England would 
do so, and in that case the old trouble regarding the 
navigation of the Mississippi was more than likely to 
be renewed. In the convention at St. John's Plains the 
radicals did not have their way, and when the body 
adjourned it was found merely to have recommended a 
provisional government in the name of Spain, and the 
establishing of courts of justice as nearly like those of 
the United States as the Spanisli law would allow. 

But the timid course of the convention did not com- 
mend itself to the large element of the people who had 
become firmly resolved upon the annexation of their coun- 
try to the United States. Mass-meetings and conventions 
declared forcibly against further submission to govern- 
ment by Spain in any form. The popular movement 
gained such momentum that within a few weeks a decla- 
ration of independence had been issued, a standing army 
had been raised and equipped, a lone-star flag had been 
adopted, a constitution had been drafted, and an Ameri- 
can by the name of John Rhea had been elected president 
of the temporary republic. On the 22nd of September, 
the convention, which had resumed its sessions, commis- 
siolied Philemon Thomas to lead an expedition against 
the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge. The fort was defended 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA UIG 

by twenty indifferent soldiers under command of Louis 
Grandpre, and was quickly reduced by stonn. Among 
the prisoners taken was Governor Delassus, who had 
become frightened at the lengths to which the people 
were going, and had at last aroused himself to check 
the movement, only to find it entirely beyond his con- 
trol. Thomas's success at Baton Rouge decided the 
convention formally to declare West Florida a free and 
independent state, and to authorize Rhea to open negotia- 
tions with the United States with a view to annexation. 
The terms which Rhea proposed to President Madison i 
were that West Florida should be admitted into the 
Union as a state, or as a territory, with all the rights of 
self-government possessed by other parts of the United 
States, or, if this was not possible, that the province be 
added to the Territory of Orleans ; that it should be left 
in full possession of its public lands ; and that the United 
States should extend to it a loan of -f 100,000. The terms 
were so reasonable that the President and his Cabinet lost 
no time in deliberation. A proclamation was at once is- 
sued taking possession of the territory in the name of the 
United States and annexing it to Orleans. ^ Governor 
Claiborne, who was then at Washington, was ordered to 
see that the proclamation Avas duly put into effect, and 
that the new territory was organized as quickly as possil)l(' 
after the American fashion.^ 

By the end of November Claiborne had reached liaton 

1 Rhea's letter was dated October 10, 1810. It was sent to Madison by 
Goveraor Holmes, of the Mississippi territory, a week later. Tiic text is 
in the American State Papers, III. .3!)')-396. 

■■2 For the President's proclamation, see the Ainrn'ran S(/ite^P<ii><r.i. 
III. 397-398. ^ -^ ?"'<'•, ni. 3itti-;!97. 



646 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Rouge and was announcing to the people that their offer 
to the United States had been accepted. For the most 
part the news was received with every demonstration 
of joy. There were numerous malcontents, however, 
who clung to the idea of an independent state, and who 
had to be dealt with by force before they ceased running 
up the lone-star flag in defiance of the stars and stripes. 
By the opening of the year 1811 law and order had 
been secured in the five important districts of Baton 
Rouge, New Feliciana, St. Helena, St. Ferdinand, and 
Tanchipaho — in short, in all the country west of the 
Pearl River. Beyond that line confusion was to reign 
supreme yet for many years. The population there was 
very sparse, being made up chiefly of deserters from the 
army, fugitives from justice, and men who had fled from 
the states to escape their debts. Spain had never tried 
to assert her authority over these people, and the United 
States did not find it practicable to do so until a con- 
siderably later time. The status of the region remained 
more or less anomalous, in fact, until the final cession of 
the Floridas by Spain to the United States in 1819. 

The outcome of the West Florida dispute proved that 
Jefferson's policy of delay had been the wise one. With- 
out war, and at very slight expense, the United States 
had secured the sovereignty of the coveted territory and 
had thereby established for her western citizens the per- 
petual free use of their great central trade route to 
the sea. Livingston's far-fetched contention that West 
Florida was acquired by reason of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase was dropped out of account ; the United States 
could hereafter base her claim on the stronger founda- 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 647 

tion of a mutual contract entered into by hei'self and the 
people of the annexed province. 

Meanwhile the legislature of the Territory of Orleans 
was petitioning Congress for the admission of the terri- 
tory into the Union as a state.^ The population had 
greatly increased during recent years and was fast be- 
coming more homogeneous and American. The Creoles 
had become fairly well reconciled to the prospect of 
permanent United States citizenship, and the popular 
cry for statehood came now with much better grace than 
just after the purchase from France. The question came 
before Congress during the session of 1810-1811. At 
its first mention it aroused little interest, but before the 
l)ill enabling the territory to frame a state constitution 
could be passed, a prolonged and notable debate had 
taken place in both houses.^ Opposition to the meas- 
ure came almost wdiolly from the Federalists — the 
men w^ho had begun by decrying the Louisiana Purchase 
in the first place, and then had consistently fought 
ever}' project of the Jefferson and Madison adminis- 
trations whicli was in any way concerned with the or- 
ganization and government of the new territory. They 

1 On the annexation of West Florida, see the excellent monograph of 
H. E. Chambers entitled " West Florida and its Relation to the Histori- 
cal Cartography of the United States," in the Johm Jluji/ciiix University 
StKdies in Historical and PoJitiral Science, lOth Series, No. V. ; also the 
same author's "A Sliort-lived American State," in the Ma{i<isine of 
American History, XXVII. 24-20; McMaster, History of the People of 
the United Slates, III. 369-375 ; and Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, IV. 
Ch. V. 

2 Annals of Congress, 12th Cong, first sess., 557 and 585. 

8 See especially the records of the House debate in the Annals of Con- 
gress, 11th Cong., third sess., 493-542. 



648 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

now declared that the admission of Orleans as a state 
was both unconstitutional and inexpedient. The Union, 
they contended, was one simply of the states which 
existed at the time of its original formation. The Con- 
stitution was framed for the then existing states, adopted 
by them, and could not legitimately be stretched to cover 
any other people or territory. Orleans was outside tlie 
bounds of the United States as defined by the treaty of 
1783 ; it could not therefore be brought into the confeder- 
ation of states. If Congress should begin to carve new 
states out of the enormous domain acquired from France, 
where would the end be ? If Orleans were now admitted 
other districts would present claims just as good in 
later years. What would become of the old states of 
the Union, the states that first drew together into a 
nation under the Constitution, and for whose benefit 
alone that instrument had been ordained and established ? 
Their independence would be lost, their control of the 
government would become a thing of the past, they 
would find themselves completely overbalanced by the 
new commonwealths of the West. They would find 
that, " instead of annexing new states to the Union, they 
had annexed the old Union to a band of foreign states." 
Such was the alarm which the New England members 
professed to feel at the Republican policy of admitting 
Orleans that they unhesitatingly pictured the passage 
of the bill as practically equivalent to a disruption of 
the Union. The speech of Josiah Quincy in the House 
of Representatives, January 14, 1811, is especially memo- 
rable in this connection. Quincy declared that no man 
exceeded him in love for the old Union and the Consti- 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 649 

tution, but that if the bill to admit Orleans passed, the 
old Union had ceased to exist and the Constitntion had 
been rent asunder. It would then be the right of all, as 
it would be the duty of some, to prepare for a separation, 
peaceably if they could, forcibly if they niust.^ AVhen 
called to order for employing such language on the floor 
of the House, he appealed to the assembly and was sus- 
tained by a vote of 56 to 53. Thus vindicated, he con- 
tinued with much vigor to elaborate his views. The 
Constitution, he said, was made " for ourselves and our 
posterity," and not for the people of New Orleans, nor for 
the people of Louisiana. They did not, they could not, 
enter into the scope of the Constitution, for it embraced 
only the United States of America. New states might, 
indeed, be admitted to the Union. But they must be 
made from the territory within the original limits of 
the United States. " No power has been delegated to 
Congress to admit foreigners to a share of political 
power under the compact. The introduction of a 
new associate will be followed by a new division of 
power, and a new division by a lessening of the share 
held by the old partners. Can this be done witliout 
unanimous consent ? . . . Does any one suppose that 
the people of the northern and Atlantic states will with 
patience behold senators and representatives from states 
beyond the Missouri and Red rivers pour in on Congress, 
manage as they see fit the affairs of a seaboard fifteen 
hundred miles away from their homes, and rule a body 
into which they have come unconstitutionally ? They 
neither will see it, nor ought to see it." 

1 Annals of Congress, 11th Cong., third sess., 525. 



650 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

Quincy's argument was as forceful as could have been 
made on his side of the question, but the Republicans had 
little difficulty in answering it quite effectually. They 
had only to call up the clause of the fourth article of the 
Constitution which gives Congress power to dispose of 
and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
territory of the United States, and show that power to 
dispose of territory presupposes the power to hold terri- 
tory, which in turn presupposes the power to acquire it. 
Moreover, Louisiana had been acquired by treaty — a 
treaty which contained the provision that the people of 
the territory should be incorporated into the Union and 
admitted as soon as possible. By the Constitution itself 
treaties are declared to be the supreme law of the land. 
It follows that they must be implicitly obeyed. From 
this point of view the United States was under obligation 
to admit the Louisianians to statehood as soon as they 
were at all worthy of the trust, all considerations of 
expediency to the contrary notwithstanding. The bill 
was finally passed in the House by a vote of 77 to 36, and 
after some minor amendments, likewise in the Senate by a 
good majority. The President promptly approved it.^ 

It was decided that the new state should bear the name 
Louisiana rather than Orleans, while the territory north of 
the thirty-third parallel which had been known as Louisi- 
ana since 1804 should hereafter be designated as the Ter- 
ritory of Missouri. The bounds of Louisiana were fixed as 

1 The text of the enabling act is in the Annals of Congress, 11th Cong., 
third sess., 1326-1328. Tiie subsequent act for the admission of Louisi- 
ana, approved April 8, 1812, is in the Annals of Congress, 12th Cong., 
second sess., 2264-2266. 



XIV ORLEANS AM) THE NEW LOUISIANA 651 

the Sabine from its mouth to the t]iirt3--seeoiul parallel, 
thence due north to the thirty-third parallel, eastward along 
the thirty-third degree to the ^lississippi, down the Missis- 
sippi to the Iberville, through the middle of the Il^erville, 
Lake Maurepas, and Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of 
Mexico, and along the Gulf shore to the point of begin- 
ning. The customary requirements had been enjoined 
that the constitution of the new state should be repub- 
lican in form, should be based upon the fundamental prin- 
ciples of civil and religious liberty, and should secure to 
each citizen trial by jury in all criminal cases and the priv- 
ilege of the writ of habeas corpus. By a supplementary 
act, the i^art of West Florida which lay south of thirty-one 
degrees and between the Mississippi and the Pearl rivers 
was added to the new state. A month later the region 
between the Pearl and the Perdido, still garrisoned by 
the Spanish at Mobile, was annexed to the Mississippi 
territory. 

Scarcely were the new arrangements completed when 
the nation found itself engaged in its second war with 
Great Britain. The trouble had been brewing ever since 
the close of the Revolution, and unhappily was of sut-h a 
nature that its course could not be stayed even by the un- 
satisfactory makeshifts and compromises which for a cpiar- 
ter of a century had kept us from falling into actual armed 
combat with the Spaniards. During the earlier part of the 
War of 1812, the people of the Southwest were far more 
concerned with their home interests than with the conflict 
which was raging over impressment, neutral i-ights, and 
treaty violations. Many troops were recruited from the 
states and territories of the :\Iississii)pi Valley, but until 



652 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

its very close tlie war was fought on distant soil and on 
the high seas. It was only when the British, in 1814, 
planned a great expedition for the seizure of the mouth 
of the Mississippi that the inhabitants of Louisiana and 
Mississippi and {Missouri, as well as the Kentuckians and 
Tennesseeans, were brought to realize that the issue of 
the war was of extreme moment and might have to be 
decided by themselves. A fleet of fifty of England's best 
ships, carr^dng nearly twenty thousand fighting men, and 
commanded by Wellington's brother-in-law, Sir Edward 
Pakenham, made its appearance at Ship Island without 
having incurred the slightest opposition. The United 
States, in fact, had nothing to oppose to such an array. 
The fleet brought numerous civil officials who were to fol- 
low up the work of conquest by the organizing of British 
administration at New Orleans ; for the expedition had 
no less a purpose than the planting of the British flag 
throughout the Mississippi Valle}', and the hemming in of 
the United States by British possessions, precisely as the 
British seaboard colonies prior to 1763 had been hemmed 
in by the possessions of the P"'rench. 

That this programme was not executed, at least so far 
as the reduction of Louisiana, was due in the main to two 
things : the inspiring leadership of General Andre av Jack- 
son, and the sharpsliooting abilities of the western com- 
panies of militia. Until General Jackson arrived at New 
Orleans to assume command, December 2, — just eight 
days before Pakenliam's fleet was at Ship Island, — al- 
most nothing had been done to organize resistance to tlie 
approaching foe. The composite character of the Louisi- 
ana population made it unusually difficult to enlist tlie 



I 



XIV ORLEANS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA 653 

Ijeople unanimously in any sort of enterprise in wliicli 
international lines were drawn. However, practically all 
elements were more or less antagonistic to tlie British, and 
no one knew so well as Jackson how to take advantage of 
the people's prejudices and turn them to the service of his 
country. Even the Creoles, whose attachment to the 
United States was yet comparatively feeble, had in tlieir 
nature no more deep-rooted trait than their hatred of the 
Englishman and all his works, and Jackson found it no 
great task to arouse them very effectually against the 
invader. By the most desperate energy New Orleans was 
quickly put in a state of defence. Creoles, Spaniards, 
Americans, negroes — all were pressed into the service and 
given specific work to do in the coming struggle. Jack- 
son's main reliance, however, was a bod}- of Kentucky and 
Tennessee riflemen under Coffee and Carroll, whose mei-its 
as fighters he well knew from observation. The test came 
when Pakenham, with eight thousand men, including four 
regiments fresh from the Peninsular War, attempted a 
flank attack, by way of Lake Borgne and Pontchartrain, 
upon the city of New Orleans. Jackson's men were drawn 
up behind intrenchments fortified with cotton bales, logs, 
rails, earth, and whatever else the soldiers could lay liands 
on. Against this line the splendid British army hurled 
itself time and again, only to have its ranks pitiably 
thinned by the unrivalled marksmanshi}) of the backwoods 
sharpshooters. The surprise of the British was no less 
than their chagrin. With such an army it had not been 
thought necessary to take the numerous precautions which 
would otherwise have been deemed advisable. The battle 
of New Orleans must be added to the long list of sucli 



654 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap. 

conflicts in whicli overconfidence of the attacking forces 
contributed as much to their defeat as the skill and brav- 
ery of the attacked. Pakenhani was killed in tlie battle, 
and with him two other generals, seven colonels, seventy- 
five officers of lesser rank, and more private soldiers than 
perished in any battle of the Revolution. The shattered 
survivors withdrew to their ships, and before any further 
operations could be planned, news came that already, be- 
fore the battle of New Orleans, peace between the United 
States and Great Britain had been arranged by the nego- 
tiators at Ghent. So far as determining the issues of the 
war was concerned, the great American victory had been 
superfluous. However, it was perhaps worth all it cost in 
increasing the respect of the Southwestern people for the 
power and dignity of the United States. Another note- 
worthy result was the bringing of General Jackson into 
national prominence and the setting of that strenuous 
campaigner, for better or for worse, upon the tortuous 
road to the Presidency. ^ 

With the repulse of Pakenham's army at New Orleans 
the Mississippi River and Valley ceased to be objects of 
international rivalry and contention. Three nations of 
the Old World — Spain, France, and England — had been 
compelled by varying circumstances to yield forever all 
pretensions of sovereignty in the great American Middle 
West, and a new nation of western growth, having now 

' On the New Orleans campaign, see Gayarr^, History of Louisiana, 
IV. Chs. IX.-XT. ; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, 
IV. Ch. XXVII. ; Adams, History of the United States, VIII. Chs. XII. ~ 
XIV. ; and Sumner, Andrew Jackson^ Ch. II, 



XIV OHLEAiNS AND THE NEW LOUISIANA OoS 

twice vindicated its claims to independence, had proved 
its right to possess and transform into a civilized habita- 
tion the country wliicli no European people had yet 
succeeded in using to either its own or the world's ad- 
vantage. After the War of 1812 it but remained for the 
New Englanders and tlie Virginians and the Carolinians 
to continue their peaceful migrations toward the West, 
until the backwoods wilderness was converted into thou- 
sands of richl}^ productive farms, with towns and cities, 
schools and churches, newspapers and libraries, and numer- 
ous other distinctive features of a highly civilized mode of 
life. For three decades after the treaty of Ghent the most 
characteristic emblem of American development was the 
canvas-covered wagon, or prairie schooner. On all the 
roads leading across the mountains from the seaboard 
states might be seen at almost any time long lines of these 
picturesque vehicles, moving in stately procession toward 
the promised land. The wagons were drawn usually by 
oxen, sometimes by horses, and contained all their drivers' 
worldly possessions except perhaps a dog or cow chained to 
the axle behind. Other less fortunate emigrants went all 
tlie way on foot, bearing on their sturdy shoulders heavy 
packs of food and other necessary supplies. Still others 
travelled on horseback. And after 1810, when the first 
steamboat made her way successfully down the long jiath 
from Pittsburg to New Orleans, much of the emigrant's 
journey was frequently accomplished by water routes. 

The results of this great movement, which liad been in 
progress more or less for over half a century, were at 
last becoming apparent in the creation of new couimon- 
wealtlis. The present state of Louisiana was admitted to 



656 THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI chap, xiv 

the Union, as we have seen, in 1812. At that time the 
newly created Territory of Missouri contained a popula- 
tion of more than twenty thousand whites, together with 
a large number of negro slaves. In 1816 Indiana became 
a state, in 1817 Mississippi, and in 1818 Illinois. In 1819 
Arkansas was separated from Missouri and constituted a 
territory. To the streams of migration which up to this 
time had flowed mainly from the southern seaboard states 
began now to be added others of large importance from 
more northern, and even New England, sources. The 
result was a mixing of population which had not a little 
to do with the intensity of the struggle, first precipitated 
about 1820, by the great question of slavery in the Missis- 
sippi Valley states and territories. But eventually this 
commingling of national elements proved a signally fortu- 
nate phase of our western development ; it not only hast- 
ened the inevitable convulsion caused by slavery, and the 
consequent dispelling of the " black shadow," but it has 
given to the people of the West that wide variety of tem- 
perament and energy which must always be conducive to 
the very best in civic life and growth. If it be true that 
the typical American is to be found to-day between the 
AUeghanies and the Rockies, it must be because it is there 
that the greatest number of American ideas and ideals 
have been fused together in the making of social, intel- 
lectual, and political conditions. 



INDEX 



Accau, Michel, employed by La Salle 
to explore tbe upper Mississippi, 
101, 143. 

Alamiiios, Antonio de, pilot of Cor- 
dova's expedition in 1517, 12; visit 
to Jamaica, 13. 

Albany, conference at in 1751, 2G0; 
Congress of 1754, 271 . 

Allonez, Father Claude, founds mis- 
sion of tbe Holy Spirit at La Poiute, 
o'.l ; and of Francis Xavier at Green 
Bay, (!0 ; reaches the Fox-Wisconsin 
portage, 60 ; speech to tbe Indians 
at Sault Ste. Marie, (33-65. 

Alquier, Citizen, negotiates at Madrid 
for tbe retrocession of Louisiaua, 
474. 

Amherst, Baron Jeffrey, receives the 
surrender of Canada in 1760, 275. 

Amicbel, name applied to lands dis- 
covered by Pineda, 19; lacking in 
gold, 20. 

Amis, Tliomas, in the hands of the 
Spaniarils at Natchez, 433. 

Apalache, Narvaez at, 23; Soto in the 
vicinity of, 31. 

Aranda, Count d', prophecy concern- 
ing tbe United States, 399. 

Arkansas River, reached by Joliet and 
Marquette, 74; Tonty's post on, 
126. 

Aubry, Sieur d', succeeds D'Abbadie 
as governor of Louisiana, 321; rela- 
tions with Antonio de UUoa, 324- 
a34. 

Augel, Antoine, on the upper Missis- 
sippi with Accau and Hennepin, 
143. 



Bahia de Caballos named by Narvaez, 
24. 



Balize, Antonio de Ulloa at, 328. 

Barbe Marbois, Frauc^ois, Marqnis de, 
approves of Napoleon's plan to sell 
Louisiana to the United States, 517 ; 
interview with Livingston on the 
subject of Louisiaua, 520; con- 
cludes treaty for the sale of Louisi- 
ana, 530. 

Bayagoula Indians, Iberville among, 
178. 

Beaujeu, Sieur de, companion of La 
Salle, 121. 

Berlhier, General Alexandre, employed 
by Napoleon to negotiate for the 
retrocession of Louisiana, 475; con- 
cludes treaty of San Ildefouso with 
Godoy, 477. 

Bienville, Celoron de, sent by Galis- 
sonniere to take possession of the 
Ohio Valley, 252; report of, 255. 

Bienville, Sieur de, brother of Ii)er- 
ville, recovers Tonty's letter, IHO; 
encounters Englishmen on the 
lower Mississippi, 1H3 ; explores the 
course of the Red River, 187 ; in 
charge of colony at Mobile, 193; 
removed for a time from office, H^>; 
formulates the Black Code, 22.'5; 
again governor of Louisiana. 228; 
expeditions against the Cliicka- 
saws, 228-2.'}2; returns to France, 
232; intercedes for Louisiana, 323. 

Biloxi, Iberville's colony established 
at, 181; lianlships of tbe .settlers, 
182; visited by the gDvemor of 
Pensacola, 188; abandoned, 190. 

Blanca, Count Florida, negotiations 
with John Jay, 377. 

Bonaparte, Joseph, quarrel with Napo- 
leon over the alienation of Louisi- 
ana, 52.'5-528. 



2u 



G57 



658 



INDEX 



Bonaparte, Liicien, negotiates treaty 
with Godoy fur the transfer of 
Louisiana to France, 478; opposes 
the alienation of Louisiana by 
Napoleon, 523. 

Boone, Daniel, first crosses the Alle- 
ghauies in 1700, 276; exploration 
of Kentucky, 342-344; negotiates 
treaty of Watauga with the Chero- 
kees, 353; traces the Wilderness 
Road, 353. 

Bouquet, Henry, in the Pontiac War, 
303. 

Braddock, General Edward, defeat 
near Fort Duquesne, 273. 

Breckenridge, John C, defends the 
annexation of Louisiana, 563-565; 
reports bill for the organization of 
the Louisiana territory, 569. 

Burr, Aaron, treasonable relations with 
Anthony Merry, 626; proposes to 
take advantage of disaffection in 
Louisiana, 627; visit to Louisiana 
and New Orleans, 628-6.30 ; solicits 
Spanish aid, 632; failure of plans, 
634; deserted by Wilkinson, 635; 
trial for treason, 636. 

Bute, Lord, directs negotiation of the 
treaty of Paris, 282. 

Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, gov- 
ernor of Louisiana, 198 ; recalled, 
203. 

Canada, surrendered to the English, 
275; question of the extent of, 
277. 

Carniichael, William, receives instruc- 
tions from Jefferson, 444 ; appointed 
to negotiate treaty with Spain, 446 ; 
fruitless efforts at Madrid, 448. 

Carondelet, Baron de, governor of 
Louisiana, restrains enthusiasm 
aroused by the French Revolution, 
450. 

Casa Calvo, Marquis de, commissioner 
to deliver Louisiana to the French, 
587; lingers at New Orleans, 609; 
on the Spanish armaments in 
Louisiana, 611 ; requested by Clai- 
borne to depart from Louisiana, 
610, 620; goes to Pensacola, 623. 



Champlain, Samuel de, employs Nico- 
let in western exploration, 46. 

Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier 
de, report on Louisiana, 219-221. 

Cherokee Indians, cede lands for the 
W^atauga settlement, 346; yield 
lands to Richard Henderson for 
Transylvania, 352. 

Chicago River, La Salle on, 106. 

Chickasaw Indians, conclude treaties 
with the French at Mobile, 193; 
Bienville's expeditions against, 
228-232. 

China, Sea of, Nicolet's expedition to 
discover, 46 ; rumors concerning, 
52 ; speculation regarding, 57 ; Du- 
luth's proposed search for, 142, 155. 

Choctaw Indians, conclude treaties 
with the French at Mobile, 193; 
aid Bienville against the Chicka- 
saws, 229. 

Claiborne, Governor William, ap- 
pointed commissioner to receive 
Louisiana from the French, 596; 
organizes a military force, 597 ; 
receives Louisiana from Laussat, 
599-600; proclamation to the peo- 
ple of Louisiana, 602; difficulty of 
position at New Orleans, 603; 
forces departure of Casa Calvo and 
Morales, 610, 622; refuses to be 
involved in Aaron Burr's schemes, 
634; establishes order in West 
Florida, 645. 

Clark, Daniel, leads in the defence of 
New Orleans. 595. 

Clark, George Rogers, agent of Tran- 
sylvania, 354; commissioned to 
conquer British posts in the West, 
357; preparations for the expedi- 
tion, 358; receives the surrender of 
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 3()0, and 
of Vincennes, 364-.366; establishes 
Fort Jefferson on the Mississippi, 
367; reprisal on the Spaniards at 
Vincennes, 434 ; commissioned to 
lead expedition against the Span- 
iards on the lower Mississippi, 451 ; 
failure, 453. 

Colbert, Jean Baptiste, French minis- 
ter of marine, appoints Talon to 



INDEX 



059 



be intendant and Courcelles to be 
goveruor of New France, 58. 

Columbus, Christopher, fourth voyage 
of, 10. 

Company of the West, organized, 204; 
relations of John Law with, 20(5; 
surrenders Louisiana patent, 227. 

Congress, Continental, appoints John 
Jay to negotiate treaty with Spain, 
374; instructs Jay, 375, 380; author- 
izes Jay to yield the navigation of 
the Mississippi, 383; Jay displeased 
with instructions of, 385-387 ; issues 
instructions regarding the boun- 
daries of the United States, 391 ; 
recommends cessions of western 
lauds, 404. 

Congress of the Confederation, ap- 
proves Jay's conduct at Madrid, 
389; instructs Jay to end negotia- 
tion, 389; dealings with western 
lands, 40G, 407 ; adopts the North- 
west Ordinance, 407 ; instructs Jay 
in 1785 to treat with Gardoqui, 421 ; 
advised by Jay to yield the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, 424; debate 
on Jay's proposal, 428-432; sec- 
tional character of the Mississippi 
question, 432 ; receives Jay's report 
on his negotiations with Gardoqui, 
438-440 ; revokes Jay's commission 
to negotiate with Gardoqui, 440. 

Cordova, Francisco Hernandez de, 
expedition to Honduras in 1517, 
12 ; on the Yucatan coast, 12 ; 
death, 13. 

Coronado, Francisco Vasquez, ex- 
l)lores the American interior from 
the southwest, 27. 

Courcelles, Sieur de, issues patent to 
La Salle, 85. 

Coureurs-de-bois, forbidden to trade 
with the Indians, 141. 

Coxe, Daniel, expedition to the mouth 
of the Mississippi, 183. 

Cresap, Michael, in Lord Dunmore's 
war, 350. 

Croghan, George, expedition to estab- 
lish English autliority in the Illi- 
nois country (1765) , 310 ; failure of, 
311. 



Crozat, Antoine, receives nionoi)oly of 
Louisiana trade, 199; establishes 
trading i)osts on the Mississippi, 
201 ; surrenders his patent, 203. 

D'Abbadie, Sieur, governor of Louisi- 
ana, 315; description of Louisiana 
in 1704, 317 ; commissioned to de- 
liver Louisiana to Spain, 319; 
death, 321. 

Detroit, becomes an important base 
of French operations, 259. 

Dickinson, John, resolution on rela- 
tions with Spain, 373. 

Dinwiddle, Governor Robert, i)lans to 
secure the upper Oliio Valley, 202; 
.sends Washington to Fort Le Bceuf, 
203 ; prepares for war on the upper 
Oliio, 204. 

Don Carlos IV., agrees to yield Louisi- 
ana to the French, 474, 470. 

Douay, Father Anastasius, accom- 
panies La Salle, 1084-1687, 124; 
with Iberville, 175. 

Du Chesneau, M., on the illegal trade 
of the courpurs-(h-bois, 141 ; causes 
the arrest of Duluth, 157. 

Duluth, Daniel Gi-eysolon, commis- 
sioned by Frontenac to explore the 
Sioux country, 138; takes posses- 
sion of the far Nortli west for France, 
140; encounters Hennepin on the 
Mississippi, 154; proposed search 
for the China Sea, 142, 155 ; arrested 
by Du Chesneau at Quebec, 157. 

Dunniore, Earl of, war with the Ind- 
ians, 347-352; jealousy of Penn- 
sylvania, 348. 

Duquesne, Marquis, governor of Can- 
ada, 200; directs fortiticatiou of 
the upper Oliio, 262. 

England, prolonged contest with 
Frauce in the eighteenth century, 
170; policy in the eastern Mis.sis- 
sippi Valley after 1763, 2{)(>-2<t8; 
sovereignty established on the Mis- 
sissippi, 3d<»-313, 316. 

English, advance of feared by La 
Salle, 171 ; visit the lower Missis- 
sippi, 1H3; trailers in tin' .\rkaiisas 



660 



INDEX 



country, 186; relations with the 
Choctaws, 230; struggle for the 
Ohio Valley, 252-275 ; colonization 
in America compared with the 
French, 290; pleased with French 
cession of Louisiana to Spain, 321. 

English Turn, Bienville meets English- 
men at, 183-184. 

Espi'ritu Santo, hay named hy Her- 
nando de Soto, 30. 

Espi'ritu Santo, Rio del, named by 
Garay, 16 ; identity of, 10-19. 

Falls of St. Anthony, discovered and 
named hy Hennepin, 151. 

Family Compact, formed in 1761, 
286. 

Ferdinand and Isabella, decree of 
1495, 11. 

Florida, proved not to be an island, 
21 ; ceded by Spain to England in 
1703, 287 ; retroceded by England 
to Spain in 1783, 398 ; France nego- 
tiates with Spain to obtain, 475; 
saved from cession to France by 
Godoy, 484 ; Jeffer,son resolves to 
secure for the United States, 502 ; 
Monroe and Livingston autliorized 
to procure, .508 ; not included in the 
Louisiana Purchase, 533; Monroe 
and Finckney negotiate to secure 
from Spain, 614-616, <341-(j42. 

Florida, West, province of, defined by 
Proclamation of 1763, 295; Spain's 
desire to acquire, 368; Galvez"s 
campaigns in, 369-371; boundary 
of, by the treaty of Paris 1782-1783, 
413-415 ; English province of, 414 ; 
Spanisli dispute with the LTnited 
States concerning boundary, 414- 
416; boundary established by the 
treaty of San Lorenzo el Real in 
1795, 456 ; Livingston's theory as 
to acquisition by the United States 
in 180;^, 638 ; not a part of tlie 
Louisiana Purchase, 639; Jeffer- 
son's policy regarding, 639; popu- 
lar convention in 1810, (!43 ; republic 
of created, 644; annexed to the 
United States, 645 ; Claiborne es- 
tablishes order in, 645-640. 



Fort Chartres, established by the 
French, 219; surrendered to the 
English, 312. 

Fort Crevecceur, built by La Salle, 
100; Tonty in command of, 101. 

Fort d'Huillier, established by Le 
Sueur, 165. 

Fort Duquesne, captured and named 
by the French, 205, 200 ; taken by 
the English, 275. 

Fort Fronteuac, in charge of La Salle, 
90. 

Fort La Boulaye, established by Iber- 
ville, 180. 

Fort Le Bceuf, established by the 
French, 202. 

Fort Necessity, Washington's defeat 
at, 266. 

Fort Rosalie, Indian Massacre at, in 
1729, 225. 

Fort St. Joseph, Spanish expedition 
against, 372. 

Fort St. Louis (on Mobile River), 
established by the French, 192; 
hardships of the colony, 194; re- 
moval to new site, 197. 

Fort St. Louis (on the Texan coast), 
La Salle's colony at, 122 ; Spaniards 
visit, 129. 

Fort Stanwix, Sir William Johnson's 
treaty with tlie Iroquois at, 305. 

Fox River, Nicolet ascends, 49 ; Allouez 
and Dablon on, 00; ascended by 
Joliet and Marquette, 08. 

France, La Salle's plans for, in the 
Mississippi Valley, 92 ; takes pos- 
session of Louisiana, 111 ; projected 
colonization in the American inte- 
rior, 118; La Salle's settlement a 
failure, 130 ; possession of the Sioux 
country taken byDuluth, 140: pro- 
longed struggle with England in 
the eighteenth century, 170; first 
colony on the Gulf of Mexico, 175- 
182 ; cedes eastern Mississippi Val- 
ley to England in 17(!2, 283; involves 
Spain in the Seven Years' AVar, 
280; cedes Louisiana to Spain in 
1703, 288; design to limit the 
bounds of the United States in 1782, 
393 ; disregarded by the Americans 



INDEX 



601 



in negotiating the treaty of Paris, 
393; desire to recover Louisiana 
from Spain, 4()1 ; Directory endeav- 
ors to regain Louisiana, 4(»4: 
threatened war with the United 
States, 409 ; convention of 1800 
with the United States, 471; re- 
acquires Louisiana by tlie treaty 
of San Udefonso, 477 ; pledged not 
to alienate Louisiana, 484; sells 
Louisiana to the United States, 530. 

Francis Xavier, mission of, founded 
by Father Allouez, 00. 

Franklin, Benjamin, plan of colonial 
union in 1754, 271 ; pamphlet on 
the reteuti(ni of Canada by Eng- 
land, 279-282; views on the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, 379. 

Franklin, state of, organized, 409; 
suppressed by North Carolina, 410. 

Franquelin, Jean Baptiste Louis, map 
of the Mississippi Valley, 112. 

French, search of, for the Mississippi, 
45 ; take possession of American 
interior at Sault Ste. Marie, 02-05; 
first reach the Mississippi, 70 ; take 
l)ossession of Louisiana, 110-115; 
fail in first attempt to colonize 
Mississippi Valley, 130; explore 
the upper Mississippi, 13;?-108; 
methods of exploration compared 
with Spanish, 134: take possession 
of the Sioux country, 140; estab- 
lish colony at Biloxi, 181 ; rivalry 
with tlie Spaniards on the Gulf of 
]\lexico, 188, 207 ; prospects in the 
"West as viewed by Governor Spots- 
wood, 210-218; extent of settle- 
ments in the Mississippi Valley in 
1751, 230; struggle for the Ohio 
Valley. 252-275 ; excluded from the 
American continent, 28;{-288; col- 
onization in America compared 
with English, 2iKt; migration from 
the eastern Mississippi Valley after 
1703, 300; conditions of life in the 
West, 31.3-314. 

French and Indian War, begun in 
1754, 207; English plans at the out- 
break of, 208; lack of harnu)ny 
among the English colonists, 209; 



the prologue to the .\merican Revo- 
lution, 291. 
Frontenac, Conite de, appointed gov- 
ernor of New France, 05; employs 
Joliet to explore the West, (ia; 
commissions Dulnth to explore the 
Sioux country, 138; interested in 
western trathc, 141. 

Galinee, Brehan de, narrative of La 
Salle's expedition toward the Ohio, 
80-88. 

Galissonniere, Marquis de la, sends 
Celoron de Bienville to take pos- 
session of the Ohio N'aliey, 252. 

Galvez, Bernardo de, succeeds Uii/.aga 
as governor of Louisiana, 307; 
campaigns against the British in 
Florida, 30i)-371. 

Garay, Franci.sco de, obtains grant 
from the Order of St. Jerome, 13; 
patent for colonizing northern 
shore of Gulf of Mexico, 13 ; sends 
maps to the Spanish court, 10, 21 ; 
failure of expedition to Amichel, 
20 ; death, 20. 

Gardoqui, Diego de, represents Flor- 
ida Blanca in negotiation with 
Jay, 378 ; first Spanish envoy to the 
United States, 421; negotiations 
with Jay, 178,5-1780, 422-438; re- 
fuses to allow a time limit upon the 
Spanish closure of the Mississippi, 
439; negotiation with Carmichael 
and Sliort in 1793, 448. 

Genet, Edmond C, violates Washing- 
ton's proclamation of neutrality, 
451 ; incites the Westerners against 
the United States, 451; recalled, 
453. 

George III., issues Proclamation of 
17(53, 294-299. 

Georgia, colonization of, 248. 

Gist, Ciiristopiicr, establishes Pick- 
town on the Big Miami, 2.">8. 

Godoy, Don Manuel, beconu's Spanish 
prime minister, +47; negotiates 
treaty of San Lorenzo el Real willi 
Pinckney, 455-458; resigns liis 
office, 409; negotiates treaty of 
San Udefonso with Berthier, 477; 



662 



INDEX 



hinders the retrocession of Louisi- 
ana to France, 479; exacts pledge 
from France not to alienate Louisi- 
ana, 484; regards treaty of San 
Ildefonso as null, 512. 

Great Meadows, Washington's cam- 
paign in 1754, 2G5. 

Green Bay, Nicolet at, 48; Joliet and 
Marquette visit, 68, 76. 

Grelou, Father, story of, 52. 

Griffon, huilt near Niagara Falls, 96; 
La Salle's voyage in, 97 ; fate of, 98. 

Grisvvold, Gay lord, opposes the an- 
nexation of Louisiana, 554-556. 

Grosseilliers,Sieur de.on the shores of 
Lake Superior, 53. 

Guadeloupe, question of retention by 
the English in 1761, 278-282. 

Guillemardet, Citizen, sent by Talley- 
rand to Madrid in 1798, 466; fails 
to secure Louisiana, 469. 

Hamilton, Governor Henry, Incites 
the western Indians, 356; recovers 
Vincennes for the British, 363; sur- 
render to George Rogers Clark, 
366. 

Hawkesbury, Lord, expresses English 
opposition to the retrocession of 
Louisiana to France, 487. 

Hennepin, Father Louis, on the early 
life of La Salle, 82 ; description of 
Niagara Falls, 95 ; sent by La Salle 
to explore the upper Mississippi, 
101, 144; descends the Illinois, 145; 
ascends the Mississippi, 145; cap- 
tured by the Sioux, 145 ; descrip- 
tion of the Minnesota cf)untry, 149; 
discovers and names the Falls of 
St. Anthony, 151 ; encounters Du- 
luthon the Mississippi, 154 ; returns 
to France, 158; accounts of his 
American explorations, 158-161 ; 
alleged descent of the Mississippi 
to tiie Gulf, 159. 

Holy Spirit, Mission of the, founded 
by Father Allouez, 59. 

Huntington, Samuel, resolution on 
relations with Spain, 374. 

Huron Indians, Nicolet among, 47 ; 
dispersed by the Iroquois, 51. 



Iberville, Sieur d', plan to colonize 
Louisiana, 174; expedition sails 
from France, 175; at Ship Island, 
177 ; explores the lower course of 
the Mi.ssissippi, 178; establishes 
colony at Biloxi, 181; authorizes 
the abandonment of Biloxi, 190; 
death, 190; criticism of French 
colonial policy, 191. 

Illinois, conquest by George Rogers 
Clark, 360; county of, established 
by Virginia, 362. 

Illinois River, Joliet and Marquette 
on, 76; La Salle on, 99. 

Indian land tenure, European attitude 
toward, 114; character of, 307. 

International Law, bearings of, on 
early French claim to Louisiana, 
112-114. 

Iroquois Indians, drive the Hurons 
westward, 51; invade the Illinois 
country, 103; determine the early 
French route westward, 135; Eng- 
lish treaty with, in 1754, 271 ; treaty 
of Fort Stanwix, 305. 

Jackson, Andrew, wins the battle of 
New Orleans, 652-654. 

Jay, John, appointed commissioner at 
Madrid, 374; receives instructions 
from Congress, 375 ; instructions to 
William Carmichael, 376; encoun- 
ters difficulties at the Spanish court, 
376; despair of gaining a treaty, 
384; opinion of the Spanish govern- 
ment, 385; displeased with the ac- 
tion of Congress, 385-387 ; course in 
the negotiation commended by Con- 
gress, 389 ; takes part in peace nego- 
tiations at Paris, 390; suspicion of 
French designs agahist the United 
States, 393 ; succeeds Livingston as 
secretary for foreign affairs, 421 ; 
empowered to treat with Gardoqui 
in 1785, 421 ; advises Congress to 
yield the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, 424; report to Congress on 
negotiations with Gardoqui, 438- 
440; commission to negotiate re- 
voked in 1788, 440. 

Jefferson, Thomas, drafts the Ordi- 



INDEX 



603 



nance of 1784, 400 ; instructs Car- 
niichael to guanl the interests of 
the Westerners, 44o; contends for 
the free navigation of the JNIissis- 
sippi, 447; outlines course of isohi- 
tion. for tlie United States, 48."): 
anticipates pleasant relations with 
Napoleon, 486; policy of delay in 
dealing with the Louisiana ques- 
tion, 490, 49t>, 509 ; regrets the retro- 
cession of Louisiana to France, 486, 
490; letter to Livingston on the 
retrocession, 491-49;3; message to 
Congress, December 15, 1802, 498; 
nominates Monroe as special envoy 
to France, 500 : letter to Monroe on 
the Mississippi question, 501-504 ; 
resolves to purchase New Orleans 
and the Floridas, 502 ; proposes that 
England be allowed to take Louisi- 
ana, 512; surprise at the purchase 
of Louisiana, 539; favors ratifica- 
tion of the purchase, 542, 549-552; 
doubts constitutionality of the pur- 
chase, 54()-548 ; proposes an amend- 
ment to the Constitution, 547; 
message to Congress, October 17, 
1803, 549; suggested disposal of the 
Louisiana territory, 552; appoints 
Wilkinson and Claiborne to receive 
Louisiana from the French, 595; 
policy regarding West Florida, 639. 

Jesuits, relations of La Salle with, 
82. 

Jogues, Father Isaac, at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 50: captured by the Mo- 
hawks, 51. 

Johnson, Sir William, negotiates 
treaty of Fort Stanwi.x, 305. 

Joliet, Louis, starts for the Mississippi, 
6() ; joined by Marquette, 67 : among 
the Mascotins, 69; on tlie Wiscon- 
sin, 70 ; reaches the ^Iississii)pi, 71 ; 
descends to tlie Arkansas, 72-75 ; 
return by way of the Illinois River, 
76; loss of records, 77: map of the 
Mississippi, 77; forbidden to estab- 
lish a trading post on the Missis- 
sippi, 79. 

Jontel, Henri, accompanies La Salle 
in 1684, 124 ; return to France, 128. 



Kankakee River, La Salle's descent 

of, 98. 
Kaskaskia, established by the French, 

188 ; taken by George Rogers Clark , 

;;6(). 

Kentucky, explored by Dr. Tliomas 
Walker, 256 ; Daniel Boone in, 342- 
;}44; colony of Transylvania estab- 
lished in, 352 ; county of, created by 
Virginia, 354; nearly abandoned iu 
1775, 408; trade revived in 17.89 by 
Wilkinson, 443. 

Kerlcrec, Chevalier de, governor of 
Louisiana, 237 ; recalled in disgrace, 
314. 

King, Rufusv reports to Secretary 
Madison rumors of the retrocession 
of Louisiana, 486. 

La Barre, Le Febvre de, hostility to- 
ward La Salle, 117. 

La Chine, Montreal .seigniory of La 
Salle, 83, 85. 

Lake Pepin, named, 148 ; Perrot l)uilds 
fort on shores of, 163. 

Lake Superior, Nicolet at eastern end 
of, 47 ; Grosseilliers and Radissou 
on the shores of, 53; visited by 
Me'nard, 56 ; the pathway to the far 
Northwest, 136; early knowledge 
of, 137. 

La Pointe, Grosseilliers and Radisson 
at, 53 ; missit)n of the Holy Si)irit 
founded by Father Allouez, 59; 
Father Marquette at, 59. 

La Salle, Sieur de, early life, 82: ar- 
rives in New France, 83; ambition 
to explore the West, 84, 91 : expedi- 
tion toward the Oliio, 8(!-8!t; In 
charge of Fort Frontenac, !K1; re- 
ceives letters patent, 93 ; voyage of 
the Griffon, 96; descends the Illi- 
nois, 99, 101 ; builds Fori Creveco-ur, 
100; readies the Mississippi, 104; 
descent to tlie (iulf, KM^llil; takes 
possession of Louisiana, 111 ; return 
to tlie Illinoi.s country, 115; goes to 
France, 117; conimissioneil to colo- 
nize I^>uisiana, 119; the settlement 
at Fort St. Louis, 122: di-ath, 125; 
estimates of character, 131. 



v^ 



604 



INDEX 



Laussat, Pierre Clement, appointed 
prefect of Lonisiana by Napoleon, 
579 ; arrives at New Orleans, 581 ; 
attitude of Louisianians toward, 
582; description of the Spanish 
regime, 583; addressed by the 
people of Louisiana, 585; dislikes 
conduct of the Spaniards, 5!)0; ap- 
pointed commissioner to receive 
Louisiana from Spain and to de- 
liver it to the United States, 591 ; 
proclamation to the peof)le of 
Louisiana, 592-594 ; establishes 
temporary French government, 
594; transfers Louisiana to the 
United States, 597-600 ; regrets the 
cession, 601. 

Law, John, financial operations in 
Paris, 205; relations with the Com- 
pany of the West, 20(!; failure of 
Mississippi scheme, 212. 

Le Sueur, Pierre, searches for copper 
on the upper Mississippi, 165 ; ac- 
count of the Sioux Indians, 166. 

Livingston, Robert R., minister to 
France, 48.3; letter of Jefferson to, 
491-493; Monroe joined with, in 
negotiation at Paris, 501, 506; pur- 
chase of liOuisiana by United States 
proposed to, 517 ; unsatisfactory 
relations with Talleyrand, 518; in- 
terview with Marbois on the pur- 
chase of Louisiana, 520; determines 
on the purchase, 522; aids Monroe 
in negotiating the treaty of pur- 
chase, 530 ; despatch to Secretary 
Madison, 540-542 ; urges ratification 
of the purchase, 548 ; theory of 
the acquisition of West Florida by 
the United States in 1803, 638. 

Loftus, Major Arthur, attempts to 
ascend the Mississippi in 1764, 
309. 

Logan, reply to Lord Duninore's sum- 
mons, 351. 

Logstown, Indian conference at, 259. 

Louis XIV., imposes check on explora- 
tion in America, 79 ; grants letters 
patent to La Salle, 93; confers 
monopoly of Louisiana trade on 
Crozat,200. 



Louisburg, captured by the English, 
247. 

Louisiana, state of, created from the 
Territory of Orleans, 650; opposi- 
tion to the admission of, 647-(549; 
boundaries, 650. 

Louisiana, taken possession of by La 
Salle, 111; extent of, in l(i84, 112- 
115; in 1713, 300; plan of La Salle 
to colonize, 118; Crozat's monopoly 
of trade, 201; colonized by Iber- 
ville, 177-188; population of, in 
1717, 204; in 1732, 228; in 1745, 
228; in the hands of the Company 
of the West, 204; John Law and, 
205, 212 ; New Orleans the capital 
of, 210; described by Charlevoix, 
21'.>-221 ; under a royal council of 
government, 228; extent of settle- 
ment about 1750, 236 ; eastern por- 
tion ceded by France to England, 
283; effects of French and Indian 
War upon, 285 ; western portion 
ceded by France to Spain, 288 ; con- 
dition of, in 1764, 317 ; feeling in, 
regarding cession to Spain, 320, 
.322, 330 ; Spanish difficulty in tak- 
ing possession of, 325-335 ; con- 
spiracy against Spanish sover- 
eignty, 331 ; petition against cession 
to Spain, 322, 333; Count O'Reilly 
takes possession of, 336; France 
desires to regain after 1763, 461 ; 
French Directory negotiates for the 
retrocession of, 463-467 ; Napoleon's 
purpose to regain, 473 ; LXin Carlos 
IV. agrees to yield, 474; rumor of 
retrocession to France reported by 
King to Madison, 486; Madison's 
letter to Pinckney regarding retro- 
cession of, 488-489; Jefferson's let- 
ter to Livingston on same subject, 
491-493; Napoleon proposes to sell 
to the United States, 51(i; the sale 
effected, 530; doubt as to the 
boundaries of, 532-535; area of the 
Purchase, 536; importance of the 
acquisition by the United States, 
537 ; purchase of, justified by ]M(in- 
roe and Livingston, 540-542 ; opjio- 
sitiou to the purchase, 5415-545, 



INDEX 



666 



55'.i: constitutionality of tlic pur- 
chase doubted by Jefferson, 54(j- 
548; Jefferson's suggested disposal 
of, 552; debates in Congress on the 
orgauizatiou of, 55.'5-57"2; act of 
Congress enabling the President, to 
take possession of, 557-558; iuHu- 
euce of the annexation upon politi- 
cal parties, 5(57; Jefferson requests 
Congress to jirovide temporary 
goveruuient for, 5G8; restricted by 
the Breckeuridge Act to the terri- 
tory north of 3."5°, 5()9; description 
of, in 1803, 575-578 ; Spanish regime 
described by Laussat, 583 ; address 
of people to Laussat, 585 ; rumors 
of purchase by United States reach 
New Orleans, 5!I0 ; transferred from 
Spain to France, 5!)1; Laussat's 
pr(.)clamation to the people of, 592- 
594 ; transferred from France to 
the United States, 597-602 ; people 
petition Congress for a more liberal 
government, (i08 ; Breckeuridge Act 
goes into eifect in, (509; petition 
considered by Congress, (517-(!20; 
operations of Aaron Burr in,G28-631. 
Louverture, Toussaint, leader in the 
St. Domingan insurrection, 482. 

Mackinaw, Straits of, Nicolet at, 48 ; 
strategic importance of, 48, 13(5; 
La Salle discovers Tonty at, 105. 

Madison, James, receives report of 
the retrocession of Louisiana to 
France, 48(i; expresses American 
opposition to the retrocession, 487- 
489 ; views on the future of the 
West, 511. 

Marquette, Father Jacques, displaces 
Allouez at La Pointe, 59; belief 
concerning the Mississippi, (51 ; es- 
tablishes the mission of St. Ignace, 
62; joins Joliet, 67; among tlic 
Mascotins, 69; on the Wisconsin, 
70; reaches the Mississippi, 71; 
descends the Mississippi, 72-75; 
reaches the Arkansas, 75; return 
by way of the Illinois River, 7(); at 
Green Bay, 77; death, 78; burial 
at St. Ignace, 79. 



Maryland, jealous of Virginia on ac- 
count of latter's western claims, 
402; influences cessions by the 
states, 404. 

Mascotins, Nicolet visits, 49; .loliet 
and Marquette among, (57. 

Mavila, Soto defeats tlie Indians at, 32. 

Membre, Zenobius, descril)es the lower 
Mississippi country. 109; carries 
La Salle's report to Paris, 110. 

Me'nard, Rene, visit to Lake Superior, 
5(5. 

Milhet, Jean, carries Louisiana peti- 
tion to the French court. .322. 

Mille Lacs, visited by Dulnth, 140. 

Mississippi River, size, 6; historical 
importance, 7 ; controversy regard- 
ing Pineda's reputed discovery of, 
14-19; Narvaez at the mouth of, 
25; discovered by Hernando de 
Soto, .34 ; descent of, by Luis de Mos- 
coso, 40; possibly reached by Gros- 
seilliers and Radisson, .55; early 
name of, .59; mention of, by the 
Jesuit Relation of 1(5(59-1(570, (50; 
question of direction and outlet, 
61 ; discovered by Joliet and Mar- 
quette, 71 ; nameil La Huade by 
Joliet, Conception by Marquette, 
71; first reached by La Salle, 104; 
La Salle de.scends, 10(5-110; French 
possession taken at the mouth of, 
111; La Salle's plan for a colony 
upon, 118; ascended from the Illi- 
nois by Hennepin, 145-149; Falls of 
St. Anthony discovered anil named 
by Hennepin, 151; Heiinei)in and 
Dulutli meet, 154; extent of Hen- 
nepin's discoveries, 157; Henne- 
pin's alleged descent of, 159; 
Perrot on the upper waters of, 
1(53; Le Sueur ascends to the Min- 
nesota country, 1()5; confusion as 
to the upper course of, 1(57-168; 
lower course explored by Iberville, 
178; Englislimen enter the mouth 
of, 18.3; posts establislicd on, l)y 
Crozat, 201 ; free navigation l)y the 
treaty of Paris (17(>2), 2.S3; Kngli.sli 
sovereignty establislicd on eastern 
bank, 309-313; Continental Con- 



666 



INDEX 



gress considers the free navigation 
of, 375, 380-383; Jay's negotiations 
at Madrid concerning, 376-3fX); 
Continental Congress autliorizes 
Jay to yield the navigation of, 
383; free navigation of, guaranteed 
by the treaty of Paris (178li-1783), 
397 ; closed by Spain against Ameri- 
can trade, 417; importance of, to 
the West, -116, 420, 423 ; Jay advises 
Congress to yield the navigation of, 
424; West aroused by the closure 
of, 434-438, 449; Westerners de- 
mand that the United States protect 
their interests, 454 ; free navigation 
guaranteed by Spain in the treaty 
of San Lorenzo el Real, 457 ; closure 
of by Morales arouses the West, 
500; Monroe and Livingston com- 
missioned to negotiate for the 
opening of, 509; riglit of deposit 
restored by Spain, 513; Napoleon 
favors closure of, 584. 

Mississippi Valley, pliysical character- 
istics, 2; area, 3; population, 3-5; 
importance of, in American his- 
tory, 6. 

Missouri River, mouth viewed by 
Joliet and Marquette, 73; seen by 
La Salle, 106. 

Mobile River, probably the Spanish 
Rio del Espiritu Santo, 19; French 
establish Fort St. Louis on, 192. 

Montreal, captured by the English, 
275. 

Monroe, James, appointed special en- 
voy to France in 1803, 501; letter 
to Jefferson on the prospects of the 
negotiation, 507 ; receives instruc- 
tions, 508; arrives at Paris, 518; 
determines on the purchase of 
Louisiana, 522; aids Livingston in 
negotiating treaty of purchase, 530 ; 
despatch to Secretary Madison, 540- 
542; negotiation at Madrid for a 
treaty with Spain in 1805, (514-616, 
641. 

Morales, Don Juan Ventura, with- 
draws right of deposit at New Or- 
leans, 49()-498; forced to depart 
from Louisiana, 622. 



Moscoso, Luis de, successor of Soto, 
40; descent of the Mississippi to 
the Gulf, 41. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, Egyptian expe- 
dition, 467; returns to France, 
468; coup d'etat of the eighteenth 
Brumaire, 471 ; desire to regain 
Louisiana, 473; instructs Talley- 
rand to demand immediate posses- 
sion of Louisiana, 479; indignation 
at Godoy's Louisiana policy, 480; 
prepares to take Louisiana by force, 
482, 483; undertakes reduction of 
St. Domingo, 482; advised by 
Pichon to sell New Orleans to the 
Americans, 510; baffled in St. Do- 
mingo, 514; prepares to renew war 
with England, 515 ; proposes to sell 
Louisiana to United States, 516; 
purpose opposed by the French 
people, 522 ; and by the members 
of his family, 523-528 ; projet for 
the cession of Louisiana to the 
United States, 529; ratifies the 
treaty of cession, 532 ; leaves Lou- 
isiana boundaries indefinite, 533; 
designates Victor and Laussat to 
take possession of Louisiana, .579; 
favors the closure of the Missis- 
sippi, 584. 

Narvaez, Pamphilo de, receives grant 
from Charles V. in 1,526, 22 ; landing 
in Florida, 22; perilous expedition 
to St. Mark's, 22-24; constructs 
boats at the Bahia de Caballos, 
24 ; starts anew for the Rio de las 
Palmas, 25 ; at the mouth of the 
Mississippi, 25; death, 26. 

Natchez Indians, uprising in 1729, 
225; dispersed, 226. 

Nemours, Dupont de, carries letter 
from Jefferson to Livingston, 491 ; 
Jefferson's letter to, explaining 
Monroe's mission, 504. 

New Orleans, site chosen by Sauvole, 
180; founded by the French, 208; 
laid out by Sieiir de la Tour, 209; 
becomes the capital of Louisiana, 
210, 221 ; described by Charlevoix, 
220; Ursuline nuns at, 222; de- 



INDEX 



GG7 



y scribed by a Frencli officer in 1744, 
\\233, 2&4; visits of Illinois traders 
to, 235; conditions at, about 17()3, 
315; Ulloa arrives at, 324; (Jount 
O'Reilly takes possession of Lou- 
isiana for Spain at, 33(); right of 
deposit at, secured by the United 
States in IT'Jo, 457 ; right of deposit 
withdrawn by Morales, 49(>-4!)8; 
Jefferson resolves to secure for the 
United States, 502; Monroe and 
Livingston authorized to purchase, 
508; right of deposit at, restored 
by Spain, 513; Laussat arrives at, 
581 ; address of people to Laussat, 
585; festivities at, in 1803, .587-589; 
news of purchase of Louisiana by 
the United States reaches, 591; 
ceremony of transfer of Louisiana 
from Spain to France, 591 ; cere- 
mony of transfer of Louisiana from 
France to the United States, 597- 
602; hostility to the sovereignty 
of the United States, 602-607 ; vis- 
ited by Aaron Burr, 629 ; battle of, 
652-654. 

New York, cedes western lands, 404. 

Niagara Falls, mentioned by Galinee, 
87; described by Hennepin, 95. 

Niagara River, building of the Griffon 
on, 96. 

Nicolet, Jean, employed by Champlain, 
46 ; starts from Three Rivers, 47 ; 
at Mackinaw, 48; among the Mas- 
cotins, 49; hears of the "great 
water" (Mississippi), 49; returns 
to Three Rivers, 49. 

Nikanape, speech of, W. 

North Carolina, western claims of, 
401 ; cedes claims to the United 
States, 408; revokes cession and 
suppresses the state of Franklin, 
409. 

Northwest Ordinance, adopted by Con- 
gress in 17X7, 407; territorial sys- 
tem established by, 407. 

Ohio Company, organized in 1748, 

251. 
Oliio River probably reached by La 

Salle, 89; beginnings of Engli.sh- 



French rivalry on the upper waters 
of, 257. 

Ohio Valley, English settlement in, 
after 17(53, 308; upper portion dis- 
puted by Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania, 'MS. 

Oregon, not included in the I.<>uisiana 
Purchase, 535. 

O'Reilly, Count Alexander, arrives at 
New Orleans to take possession for 
Spain, 335; punishes con.spirators; 
337-339 ; character of, as governor, 
341. 

Orleans, territory of, created, 569; 
Breckenridge Act provides govern- 
ment for, .570-.")7.'5 ; .Vet goes into 
effect, (;08 ; A(;t of 1805 for the gov- 
ernment of, 1)19; visit of Aaron 
Burr to, ()28-(j31 ; petitions Con- 
gress for admission as a state, 647; 
admission opposed by the Federal- 
ists, 647-(i50; admitted muler the 
name of Louisiana, (>50. 

Ottawa Indians, Nicolet among, 46. 

Ottawa Valley, first French route 
westward, V.io. 

Pakenham, Sir Edward, expedition 
to capture New Orleans, 652; de- 
feat and death, 653. 

Panuco River, Moscoso's company ar- 
rives at, 41. 

Peusacola, founded by the Spaniards, 
176; governor of, visits Biloxi, 188; 
captured by the French but recov- 
ered by the Spaniards, 207: taken 
by Bernardo de (Jalvez, 371. 

Perier, Sieur de, governor of I»uisi- 
aiia, 223; war with the Natchez, 
224-226. 

Perrot, Nicholas, prepares for the cere- 
mony at Sanlt Ste. Marie, 62: in 
command of the Sioux country. 
163; takes possession of Mille Lacs 
region, 1()4. 

Peter the Martyr, chronicle of, 11. 

Philip, nuke of Orleans, attitmle as 
Regent toward P'reiu-h interests in 
America, 214. 

Phips, Sir William, captures Fort 
Royal, 239. 



INDEX 



Pichon, M., advises Napoleon to yield 
to American demands in 1803, 510. 

Picktown, established by Gist, 258; 
captnred by Langlade, 2H0. 

Piuckney, Thomas, commissioned to 
negotiate treaty with Spain, 455; 
concludes treaty of San Lorenzo 
el Real in 1795, 456; negotiations 
at Madrid in 1805, 615, 641. 

Pineda, Alonso Alvarez de, in com- 
mand of Garay's expedition in 151!l, 
13; meets Corte's, 14; controversy 
regarding his reputed di.scovery of 
the Mississippi, 14-19; importance 
of his explorations, 21. 

Pitt, William, and the Seven Years' 
War, 274; retirement fi-om the 
English cabinet, 282. 

Pontiac's War, 299-304. 

Proclamation of 1763, issued by George 
IIL, 295-299. 

Quebec, captured by General Wolfe, 
275. 

Quebec, province of, defined by the 
Proclamation of 1763, 295. 

Quincy, Josiah, speech on the admis- 
sion of Louisiana, 648. 

Radisson, Pierre d'Esprit, visits Lake 
Superior, 53; Relation of, 54. 

Randolph, John, defends the purchase 
of Louisiana, 557. 

Raymbault, Father, at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 50; death of, 51. 

Rayneval, Ge'rard, betrays French de- 
signs against the United States, 
394. 

Recollects, at Fort Frontenac, 91. 

Re'monville, Sieur de. memoir on the 
colonization of Louisiana, 172. 

Rhea, John, president of the republic 
of West Florida, 644 ; asks for an- 
nexation of West Florida to the 
United States, 645. 

Rochelle, La Salle's colonists gathered 
at, 120. 

St. Ange, Louis, surrenders Fort Char- 

tres, 312; at St. Louis, 313. 
St. Croix River, Duluth on, 142. 



St.-Cyr, General Gouvion, pledges 
France not to alienate Louisiana, 
484. 

St.-Denys, Juchereau de, explores the 
Red River, 202. 

St. Domingo, acquired by France, 463; 
Napoleon's attempt to crush negro 
insurrection in, 482; French losses 
in, 493. 

St. Ignace, mission of, established by 
Father Marquette, 62. 

St. Louis, founded by the French, 300. 

St. Lusson, Sieur, takes possession of 
the American interior at Sault Ste. 
Marie, 62. 

Salcedo, Don Juan de, protests against 
Morales's closure of the Mississippi, 
498. 

Sault Ste. Marie, Nicolet at, 47 ; mis- 
sion established by Fathers Raym- 
bault and Jogues, •>(); French take 
possession of the American interior 
at, 62-65. 

Seignelay, Marquis de, minister of 
marine, favors colonization of 
Louisiana, 119. 

Seneca Indians, La Salle among, 86. 

Sevier, John, at the Watauga settle- 
ment, :>46 ; governor of the state of 
Franklin, 409. 

Ship Island, Iberville at, 177. 

Short, William, joined with Car- 
michael in negotiations at Madrid 
in 1793, 446. 

Sioux Indians, early contact of the 
French with, 138; Duluth among, 
139-142; Le Sueur among, 166-167. 

Soto, Hernando de, receives appoint- 
ment from Charles V., 28; prepa- 
rations for his expedition, 29; on 
the Florida coast, 30; advances 
into the interior, 30 ; dealings with 
the Indians, 31 ; battle of Mavila, 
32; discovery of the Mississippi, 
34; relations with Aquixo, 35; on 
the Washita, 37; discouragement 
of, 38; death, .39. 

Spain, early navigators in the Gulf of 
Mexico, 9 ; zeal for American ex- 
ploration, 21 ; interest languishes 
after Soto's fnilnro, 12; conipara- 



INDEX 



669 



tive unimportance of Spanisli ex- 
plorations, 45; methods of explo- 
ration contrasted willi the French, 
134 ; rivalry with the French on 
the Gulf of Mexico, 188,207; war 
with England in 17(12, 282; cedes 
Florida to England in 17()3, 287 ;'' 
receives western Louisiana from 
France in 1~^V^, 288; takes posses- 
sion of Louisiana in 17()(), 'SMi; 
desires to recover the Floridas, 3(18 ; 
negotiations with John Jay regard- 
ing the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, 377-3!)0; regains the Floridas 
from England, 398, 413; closes the 
Mississippi to American trade, 417; 
position on the lower Mississippi 
descrihed by Jay, 424-427 ; treaty 
of San Lorenzo el Real with the 
United States, 455-458; concedes 
the free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi River, 457 ; yields Louisiana 
to France by the treaty of San 
Ildefonso, 477 ; restores right of 
deposit at New Orleans, 513; rec- 
ognizes the purchase of Louisiana 
by the United States, (il3 ; Monroe 
and Pinckney negotiate for a treaty 
with, (n4-(il(); unable to regain lost 
territory in America, 625; revolt 
of American dependencies against, 
642. 

Spotswood, Alexander, journey to the 
Blue Ridge, 215: on the French in 
the Mississippi Valley, 21(5-218. 

Starved Rock, fortified by Tonty, 103; 
taken by the Iroquois, 103; re-for- 
tified, IKi. 

Stirling, Cajitain Thomas, establishes 
English authority in the Illinois 
country, 312. 

Sulpitians, relations M'ith La Salle, 82, 
85, 88. 

Taensa Indians, La Salle among, 108. 

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de, be- 
comes French minister of foreign 
affairs, 4(i4; character, 4()5; effort 
to secure retrocession of Lf)uisiana, 
4()6; retires from the foreign office, 
470; failure to secure Louisiana, 



471 ; restored to office by Napoleon, 
473; prepares pmjet of a treaty 
for the retrocession of Louisiana, 
475 ; deiuands immediate pos.sessioii 
of Louisiana, 47;»; offers to sell 
Louisiana to United States, 517; 
refuses to give Livingston satis- 
faction, 518; leaves Louisiana 
boundaries indefinite, 5.32. 

Talon, Jean Baptiste. appointed in- 
tendant of New France, .jH; plans 
for western exploration, 58; re- 
called, 65. 

Texas, not included in the Louisiana 
Purchase, 534. 

Tluee Rivers, Nicolet starts from, 47 ; 
Nicolet's return to, 49. 

Tonty, Henri, arrives in New France, 
94; in command of Fort Creve- 
coeur, 101; establishes "Rock 
Fort," 103; flees to Green Bay, 
103; found by La Salle, 105; at- 
tempts to rescue La Salle's colony 
on the Gulf of Mexico, 126, 127. 

Tracy, Uriah, opposes the annexation 
of Louisiana, 5()0. 

Transjivania, colony of, established, 
352; absorbed bj' Virginia, .'i54. 

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 248-250. 

Treaty of Bale, France acquires east- 
ern St. Domingo, 463. 

Treaty of Luneville, 477. 

Treaty of Morfontaine, 47L 

Treaty of Paris (17(52-17()3), prelimi- 
naries signed, 282; territorial pro- 
visions for America, 283, 284. 

Treaty of Paris (1782-1783). .American 
commissioners ignore France in 
negotiating, .396; boundaries of the 
United States established by, .397, 
413; free navigation of tiie Missis- 
sippi guaranteed by, 397. 412; 
secret article on Florida boundary, 
413. 

Treaty of Ryswick, 239. 

Treaty of San Ildefonso, negotiated 
by Herthier and (Jodoy in 1800.477. 

Treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, ne- 
gotiated by Pinckney and (Jodoy 
in 1795, 455: establishes Florida 
boundary, 456; guarantees free 



670 



INDEX 



navigation of the Mississippi, 457 ; 

Godoy's motives in negotiating, 

458; speedily accepted by tlie 

United States, 458. 
Treaty of Utreclit, 241. 
Trent, William, sent by Dinwiddle to 

establish a fort at the forks of the 

Ohio, 264. 

Ulloa, Antonio de, commissioned to 
take possession of Louisiana for 
Spain, 324; character, 325; en- 
coimters difficulties at New Or- 
leans, 32(3 ; expelled from New 
Orleans, 332. 

United States, impossibility of isola- 
tion, 410-412; boundaries of, by 
the treaty of Paris (1782-1783), 396- 
398; dispute with Spain regarding 
southern boundary, 414-416 ; treaty 
of San Lorenzo el Real with Spain, 
455-458; threatened war with 
France, 469; convention of 1800 
with France, 471 ; acquires Louisi- 
ana from France, 5.30; annexes 
West Florida, 645 : war with Great 
Britain in 1812, 651-654. 

LTnzaga, Luis de, succeeds O'Reilly as 
governor of Louisiana, 341. 

Vaca, Cabeza de, companion of Nar- 

vaez, 25; journey to Culiacan, 26; 

account of his travels, 27. 
Vaudreuil, Marquis de, governor of 

Louisiana, 232, 235 ; governor of 

Canada, 237 ; surrenders Canada 

to the English, 275. 
Velasquez, Diego, sends expedition to 

Honduras, 12. 
Vespucius, Aniericus, explores the 

Gulf of Mexico, 9. 
Vigo, Colonel Francis, agent of George 

Rogers Clark, 363. 
Viucennes, first surrendered to George 



Rogers Clark's agent, 361; retaken 
by Governor Hamilton, 363; cap- 
tured again by Clark, 364-366. 
Virginia, western claims of, 401 ; cedes 
■ claims to the United States, 405 ; 
sympathy with the West, 438. 

Walker, Dr. Thomas, explores Ken- 
tucky, 256. 

War of the Austrian Succession, 245. 

War of the Palatinate, 238. 

War of the Spanish Succession, 240. 

Washington, George, journey to Fort 
Le Breuf, 263; Great Meadows 
campaign, 265-267; trip down the 
Ohio in 1770,345; letter to Gov- 
ernor Harrison on the western 
situation in 1784, 419-420. 

Watauga, association formed, 346; ab- 
sorbed by North Carolina, 347. 

Western Passage, searcli for, by the 
Spaniards, 10, 13, 21 ; by the 
French, 46. 

White, James, opposes the annexation 
of Ivouisiana, 558-559. 

Wilkinson, James, secures special con- 
cessions on the lower Mississippi, 
442; great trading expedition in 1789, 
443; immunity lost, 444; appointed 
commissioner to receive Louisiana 
from the French, 595; dealings 
with Aaron Burr, 628, 630, 635; a 
pensioner of Spain, 635. 

Winnebagos, Nicolet among, 48. 

Wisconsin River, reached by Fathers 
Allouez and Dablon, 60; descended 
by Joliet and Marquette, 70. 

Yrujo, Don Carlos Martinez de, on the 
closure of the Mississippi by Mo- 
I'ales, 498; informs Madison of 
restoration of i-iglit of deposit at 
New Orleans, 513; refuses to ac- 
cede to Aaron Burr's schemes, 633. 



The Foundations of American 
Foreign Policy 

WITH A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY 

By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART 

Professor of History, IIar7arJ University ; Author of "American 
History told by Contemporaries,^' etc. 

Cloth i2mo $1.50 net 

" A very good introduction to the whole subject. There are seven chapters comprising 
as many diplomatic phases : The United States as a World Power, The Kxperience of the 
United States in Foreign Military Expeditions, Boundary Controversies, A Century of Cuban 
Diplomacy, Colonies, What the Founders of the Union thought concerning Territorial 
Problems, and the Monroe Doctrine To these is added a working bibliography of American 
diplomacy, sure to be helpful to those who wish to pursue the subject systematically." — 
Si. Louis Post-Dispatcli. 

" This book is of great value to students and statesmen, editors and politicians, being a 
complete resumed of the diplomacy of this government from the time it threw off the yoke and 
took its place as an independent nation. Professor Hart is a very clear, concise, and interest- 
ing writer, and he not only recapitulates the facts of history, but arranges and compares them 
in such a way that his readers can easily follow the trend of American ideas." — Nebraska 
State yournal 

" Lucidly written, and the conclusions reached are indisputable. . . . The book may be 
commended to ' anti-imperialists ' for their mstruction. Yet it is not controversial in tone or 
partisan in its arguments ; it contains simply the results of profound historical knowledge. 
A bibliography adds greatly to its value." — Providence Journal. 



American Diplomatic Questions 

By JOHN B. HENDERSON, Jr. 
Cloth 8vo $3.50 net 

" Of vast practical service to every .American who gives to the great international ques- 
tions of his country the attention they deserve, nor, indeed, docs its usefulness stop there It 
will be found as serviceable in Europe, though there, naturally enough, its use will be 
restricted to diplomatic circles, members of parliaments, editorial writers, and a liinitcd ninn- 
ber of students of international affairs, whereas with us it is a book for all the people, for all 
voters, who may be called upon to take into consideration most of the large issues here in- 
volved, which arc of the present and the future, as well as of the past. The book deals with 
the fur seals and the Behring Sea Award: the inter-oceanic canal problem; the Sanioan iiiies- 
tion, now settled to our entire satisfaction, and, therefore, at present, at least, strictly hi-loric; 
the Monroe Doctrine, with special reference to the Venezuelan boundary dispute; and the 
northeast coast fisheries — a problem that is gradually adjusting itself without diplomatic 
interference." — The Mail atid Express (New York). 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

From the Compromise of 1850 
By James Ford Rhodes. In four volumes. Cloth 8vo $10.00 net 

" It is the one work now within reach of the young American student of to-day in which 
he may learn the connected story of the great battle that resulted in the overthrow of slavery 
and the rededication of the republic to unsullied freedom. In no other publication are these 
facts so concisely, so fully and so well presented, and the student who makes careful study 
of this work will fully understand, not only the actual causes that led to the war, but he will 
know how gradually they were developed from year to year under varying political power, 
until the nation was ripe for the revolution. . . . Taking the work all together, we regard it 
as the most valuable political publication of the age, and the intelligent citizen who does not 
become its careful student must do himself great injustice."— The Times, Philadelphia. 

THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE PROPRIETARY 

GOVERNMENT, 1670=1719 
THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE ROYAL GOV= 

ERNMENT, 1719=1776 

THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE REVOLUTION, 
1775=1780 

THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE REVOLUTION, 
1780=1783 

By Edward McCrady, a Member of the Bar of Charleston, S.C, and Presi- 
dent of the Historical Society of South Carolina. 

8vo Cloth Gilt top Each $3.50 net 

" Unquestionably a valuable contribution to American historical literature. It covers a 
field that no one has hitherto attempted adequately to treat of. It evidences a vast amount 
of research into musty archives and an instinct that guided the author to a discriminating 
selection of material . . . The future must surely be indebted to Mr. McCrady in no mean 
degree." — St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 

RECONSTRUCTION IN MISSISSIPPI 

By James W. Garner, Ph.M., Member of the Mississippi Historical Society. 

Cloth 8vo $3.00 net 

" The latest and one of the most valuable examples of pacific literature which is eradicat- 
ing the bitterness from our national history. It has taken over 400 pages to enable Mr. Garner 
to tell the story of that time of distrust and calamity, and even with so generous an allowance 
of space he, has not been able to permit himself much comment, but has packcQ every page 
with facts, taking the pains in each instance to give his authorities for statements made. . . . 
The story that follows is one of arrogance upon both sides, of frailty and passion, indignation, 
courage, conscience, fanaticism, nobility, and contemptibility. Air. Garner has made the 
dry records of the legislature and newspapers tell their dramatic story, and it will be impos- 
sible for any American to read it without sympathy. ... It is a valuable chapter of Ameri- 
can history, and should have no lack of readers." — Chicago Tribime. 

MARYLAND AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE 

By Newton D. Mereness, sometime University Fellow in History in Colum- 
bia University. Cloth 8vo $3.00 net 

" We cannot speak too highly of the way in which this work has been done. Dr. Mere- 
ness has studied every point in the light of the original contemporary documents, printed and 
in manuscript, not only those in the archives of the State, but those in private collections ; 
and references to the authorities confirm every statement. The labor undergone has been 
great ; but the result is a work planned and carried out in the truest historical spirit, and in- 
valuable to the student of American history and institutional development." — The Nation. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEAV YORK 



